The Doctor's Apprentice
by Ms. Moleca
Summary: Harry Potter Doctor Who Crossover. The Tardis gets into peoples heads, to translate alien languages, but the Tardis is alive and even the Doctor isn't sure what its truly capable of. This is the story of what happens when the Tardis does more.
1. Intro 1 : Oops

**Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Who.**

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**The Doctor's Apprentice**

**Chapter One**

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The (Ninth) Doctor, Rose Tyler and Captain Jack Harkness stood on the bridge of the TARDIS, - an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space – the best time and space ship in the universe, making some minor repairs to their transport and preparing to return the newly regressed egg of Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen, a.k.a. Margret Blain, to her home planet of Raxacoricofallibatorious.

She had once been a fully grown "woman", eight feet tall, small head with large blank black eyes, and disproportionately long green arms. Blon had been captured by the three travelers for a second time when she drew their attention by becoming the mayor of Cardiff. While trying to destroy Earth to ride the shock-wave to another part of the universe she inadvertently looked into the soul of the Tardis, who turned back time on Blon Fel-Fotch till she was an egg again; A chance to start life anew and hopefully make it a good one.

"We're all powered up. We can leave. Opening the rift filled us up with energy –" The Doctor looked over at Rose and noticed the traces of tears on her cheeks. "We can go. If that's all right..."

Rose had just come back from an unsuccessful search for her ex-boyfriend, but still loyal friend, Mickey Smith, who she had left behind when a major earthquake that was caused by a rift in space and time opening right under their time ship started to tear the city apart.

Realizing something was wrong with his blond companion, the Doctor asked "How's Mickey?"

"He's okay. He's gone." Rose nodded trying not to let the others know how hurt she was by Mickey's disappearance.

"Do you want to go find him? We'll wait..." The Doctor glanced at another associate he had picked up during his travels, a fifty-first century time agent named Jack, who usually dressed like an officer straight out of world war two.

"No need. He deserves better." Rose had just returned from an unsuccessful search and had no desire to continue when her friend clearly didn't want to be found. She stepped further into the ship putting a fake smile on her face clearly wanting to change the topic.

"Off we go, then. Always moving on..." The Doctor flipped a leaver and the engines activated. "What? That's not supposed to happen." muttered The Doctor, frowning as he began to run around the console pressing buttons and flipping switches while the brilliant blue engines began to dance and hum.

Jack moved to assist the Doctor. "What? What's happening Doctor?" Even though no one besides a Time Lord knows how a Tardis truly operates, he had enough training as a time agent to know how time travel worked, and with the Doctors instructions he could be of some assistance but the Tardis jerked to indicate travel had initiated before he could reach the console and Jack was thrown backwards into one of the arching pillars that scattered the coral themed main console room.

"I never said go." The Doctor responded, a bit of confusion in his voice, still running in circles desperately trying to regain control of his ship.

"When the Tardis opened to her soul up to Margret," He started to explain at a rapid pace - though still putting most of his focus on what his time ship was doing, "She also opened herself up to the power of the rift absorbing a lot more than she would have had it been a controlled refueling where I vent the power throughout the ship. The Tardis is trying to use up some of this pent up energy and is flying through the entire course of history with no plan as to a destination." He stood up to face his two companions with a huge grin. "I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen."

"So, the Tardis is like, on a caffeine or a sugar high or something?" Rose tried to summarize with a slight frown on her face, biting her lower lip as she tried to understand what the Doctor had just said. Earlier boyfriend troubles pushed aside at the sign of a new adventure.

The Doctor nodded, "In your simple terms, yes, something like that." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, walking around the console taking in everything it was doing and the positions of all the silver knobs and brass switches.

"And we're not going to explode or anything – right?" Still with the calm manner that came with being in life threatening positions all too often, a side effect that came with being friends with the Doctor.

"We shouldn't. If we do please note that I will be very upset."

"So what can we do?" Jack asked.

The Doctor didn't look up from where he was reading information the Tardis was spitting out at an incredible speed across the monitor. "Wait for the ride to end I would guess, and I have no idea how long that could take. Though not too long I would suppose, few hours, a day at the most. She should tire out eventually and land at the most convenient spot for her. I'll keep an eye on her, just in case something unexpected happens. Unlikely though." The Doctor added with a wry grin, looking up to catch Jack's eye as said man let out a snort of amusement.

"So, I am gonna go freshen up then, maybe catch some sleep." Said Rose as she started moving towards the back doors that lead to the never ending hallways that filled the rest of the Tardis. "And you should probably do something with Margret," Rose pointed at the Doctor. "She's been rollin' about since the ride began and we don't want her fallin' below making some Slitheen omelet or something like that." And with a smirk she left.

"Oops."

The Time Lord and Agent turned to watch as the Tardis gave another jerk, and the egg of Margret Slitheen teetered on the edge of a precipice with super heated wires below.

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_Privet Drive, Surry, November the 1st, 1981._

"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall." Professor Dumbledore smiled at his colleague.

"How did you know it was me?"

"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."

"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day."

"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."

"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating all right. You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no – even the Muggles have noticed somethings going on. It was on their news. I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid."

"You can't blame them. We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."

"Yes. And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?

"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."

"You don't mean – you can't mean the people who live here? I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son – I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"

"It's the best place for him. His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."

"A letter? Really Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?"

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_The Tardis, 18 hours after the she ate too many cookies._

"Attention all passengers – Please return to the control room, we will be disembarking shortly." The Doctors happy voice filtered through the Tardis, surprisingly devoid of echo.

Rose and Captain Jack poked their heads out of their rooms wondering since when did the Tardis have a PA system.

"Guess the Doctor's got everything under control then."

"Guess so. Should we go take a look, or keep him waiting?"

"Well I for one am really curious as to where a hyper Tardis will take us."

Jack nodded in response. "Let's go then" He held his arm out to escort his fellow companion to the control room.

"Let's shall" As Rose linked her arm with Jack's and began a leisurely stroll towards their destination.

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"What took you two so long?!"

"We were trying to figure out where the speakers for that handy intercom was hidden. No luck though." Jack shook his head in disappointment.

There was one final _whir_ of the engine as the Tardis landed. He faced the two slowpokes and with a look of utmost disgust almost whined, "We haven't the faintest idea about where we are about to have an adventure and you two are nattering on about speakers?"

"Not really no." Jack laughed. "I was just yanking your chain. So," He clapped his hands together in enthusiasm before Rose cut in to complete his thought.

"Any idea where we are or are we just going to have to step through those doors and ask the closest passerby?" She jumped behind the Doctor to stare over his shoulder at the monitor he was again reading. Though it was all just swirling pictures to Rose as the Tardis still wouldn't translate for her.

"Nope." The Doctor shook his head.

"Well you're just a fountain of answers today aren't you. Come on then. Let's take a look." The three looked at each other, each with their own manic grin, and there was a mad dash towards the door. Rose got there first and threw the door open running out to see...

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Earth. At least it looked like Earth. At night. One moon like moon hanging in the sky. Cars parked along the street. Rows of houses all looking exactly alike with their white picket fences and the one tree in every perfectly manicured lawn. Though it looked to be fall if the trees were any indication.

"Let's take a look around then shall we? The Tardis will need a small break after that and I don't think she'd drop me off in any old place." They began walking down the street taking everything in trying to figure out where they were.

"So- any ideas?" Rose asked, squinting looking up and down the street taking in everything she could.

"Do you?" The Doctor asked back, raising an eyebrow.

"From the license plates, I'd say, England?" Rose asked. "Oh god, I hope were not back in Cardiff." She complained. Cardiff was just too much for just an eye roll, so she wound up rolling her whole head, then her body, then tripped a little on the curb.

"Late 1970's early 1980's if I have my models right." Jack put in.

"Two points for the humans." nodded The Doctor. "minus one for that graceful pirouette you just did." Rose rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue at that, though resisted the urge to spin again for fear of mucking that one up again. "The question is, why did the Tardis drop us off here after the places she's just been?" The Doctor continued.

"You know 20th century cars?" Rose peeked over her shoulder from where she was peering through the window into the front seat of a delectable looking convertible.

"What? Earth in the 20th and 21st century revolutionize everything. Cars, computers, fashion... Earth is the cradle of civilization and this era is the stepping stone that the rest of the galaxy builds itself upon, so much innovation. Yes, I was required to study it in history class."

"I had trouble learning the past two thousand years of history, how do you remember eight thousand years worth?"

"Well we don't learn _everything_. Just the highlights and the most important happenings of every century, and what the academics think everyone should know. It's just the 20th century had a lot of inventions that we had to know. Really, this era is when everything went from clockwork to digital, how could we not have to learn it?"

"What about you Doctor, how much history do the great Time Lords have to learn."

"Were Time Lords. What do you think?"

"Doctor." Rose sighed. He could talk her ear off about absolutely anything, except himself and the history of his planet. She wanted to learn more about him and as much as they were best friends he rarely let her in.

The Doctor paused in his step and took a deep breath. "Right around out eighth birthdays when we've mastered how to control our thoughts, and could consciously control what our brains did, we'd open it up to the time vortex and _BOOM_, there you go, we learned all of history."

"I'd have loved a thing like that back in school." Rose looked wistfully upwards. "I may have actually taken my A levels then."

"Do you have any idea how much that hurts, I couldn't think straight for a week. And I don't know everything, that's what I travel for, and that's what the Academy was for, that was the school we all went to. The process is kind of hard to explain, it's kind of like how when you've forgotten something, and then you see something related to it and it jogs your memory. You know how when sometimes, I tell you that the place we've landed isn't how its supposed to be, I didn't know something was wrong until I landed and it jogged my memory of the events letting me know it was wrong. I can remember almost every detail if I focus really hard on the event, but that's driven people mad, and is no fun at all, so I avoid it, plus it starts a killer migraine and nobody wants to see me grumpy. And that's only good for history. I still had to study science and math and all that stuff. It just comes a lot easier if you can remember it being invented."

"Most of the experiments I've seen where people try to permanently download lots of information into their brains at once usually end up completely frying their brains or they can't actually remember anything." Jack argued.

"Hello... ancient race of the Time Lords, as old as the universe itself. There wasn't much we couldn't do,"

"Yeah, except save their own planet."

And that put an end to that conversation.

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_Thanks to Lalene Brooks for being my beta._

_Reviews would be loved if you could spare the 30 seconds._

_I would like to state ahead of time that I have been addicted to fanfiction for a few years now, and I have read a lot of fanfics in my day, so if anything I write seems eerily familiar- i swear I didn't do it on purpose. I am just trying to write an semi-original(though i don't recall reading a story similar to what i have planned), interesting story._

_I will stick to cannon when it comes to ships, unless no ships were mentioned and I feel like making one. No slash and nothing graphic in any way shape or form._

_Thanks for reading_

_Ms. Audrey Moleca_


	2. Intro 2 : Lost and Found

**Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Who.**

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**The Doctor's Apprentice**

**Chapter Two**

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The trio of travelers were meandering up and down the streets of the most ordinary little neighborhood looking for any spare newspaper or pamphlets to give any indication of where and when they were. It was a brisk night with a clear sky showing the quarter moon hanging in the sky above, scattered among the few stars that were obscured by the city lights in the distance.

Rose, Jack and the Doctor had been wandering for about two hours now and were bored stiff, they almost hoped that some interesting space creatures, or anyone at this point, were going to pop out from behind a bush and try to kill them.

"Did you catch Margret earlier? There's no soup in the Tardis engines, is there?" Rose asked the Doctor and Jack as she peeked into a trash bin behind one of the fences hoping for a discarded newspaper. She had never seen a neighborhood this clean before. _'Maybe this is what we are here for.'_ She thought to herself. _'Maybe there's a clan of neat freak aliens that have taken control of the town that make people be so orderly.'_

"Do you really think we'd let her die after all we've been through with her?" Jack looked hurt.

"She's safe and sound. Don't worry about her. We'll bring her back to -" The Doctor pointed at Rose.

"Raxicoricofallibatorious." Rose smiled and jumped around in celebration for her achievement of pronouncing the planet's name correctly.

"Right after we finish up here and the Tardis is back to her usual spectacular self. But right now I have to wonder what that is. Up ahead, second house down, left side," speeding up a little bit to get a closer look at what had caught his eye.

"Another white house, another pink flamingo or lawn troll." Drawled Jack, shaking his head.

Captain Jack was sick of looking for things that weren't there. That and he couldn't see the appeal of living in a cardboard cookie cutter box. Not after living most of his life in the fifty-first century housed in spacious apartment towers made almost entirely of tinted windows that overlooked a beautiful coast. Or in star ships looking down on the planets below, being able to see the wonder of billions of people living their lives day to day just clinging to a big rock falling through space.

"No. In the basket on the doorstep."

"Oh my God." Exclaimed Rose as she started to run towards number four. "It's a baby!"

Shock and anger were etched into her every feature. She picked the child up to cradle him to her chest rocking him back and forth trying to warm him up. "Thank God he hasn't frozen to death. Who the Hell would leave a baby on a doorstep in the middle of the night! Bastards!" She hissed. "It's cold out. Who knows, it could rain. There are animals out there. Some pitiful little fence isn't going to stop some crazed dog from coming along and eating a poor little thing like him. When I find who did this I am going to prevent them from ever having children again!"

"Rose, Rose." Jack said grabbing her shoulders and turning her around to face him. "Here." He took off his jacket and held it out to her. "Wrap the little guy in this. That one blanket's not enough." This stopped Rose from her tirade and she gave Jack a small smile as she wrapped the baby in the coat, then went back to hugging and rocking him.

"It's a miracle you haven't woken him up yet with all the yelling your doing." He shook his head. "What's that you got there, Doctor" He walked over to where the other man was sitting on the stoop and sat down next to him. Rose walked over too to get a look at what their tour guide was doing now.

"It's a letter."

"I can see that" said Rose slowly; trying to make the point that she was not the stupid little ape the Doctor was always calling her. "Does it give any important information, like why there's a baby sitting on the stoop in the middle of the night, or where the hell we are?"

"It does" The Doctor nodded, and continued to stare at the piece of paper in his hands, a small crease on his brow.

"Well. Come on. Spill." She sat down on the other side of the Doctor.

"He's the reason we're here." The Doctor looked Rose in the eye and said in a slow precise manner. "His name is Harry Potter, and his parents were murdered last night." Jack and Rose both took in sharp breaths and the latter held the sleeping orphan a little closer. The Doctor reached over to brush some of the raven black hair from Harry's forehead, revealing a lightning shaped scar.

"If his parents were killed, what's he doing on a stoop? Shouldn't the police have him, or a hospital or something?" Rose asked.

"He comes from a small secluded society of people, kind of like gypsies they don't like to interact with outsiders. A few thousand years ago a space ship crash landed right in the middle of of a tiny little village. A space ship with people on board. Alien people that could, by use of immense psychic energy manipulate the universe around them. Now when this ship crashed, the core that fueled it broke, releasing radiation, add on top of that the psychic energy released when the crew died and you have a new subspecies of human.

"Over time they learned how to control the energy, and the ability was passed on through the generations. Its a recessive genetic trait, so it mostly runs in families, but since its recessive some people carry the ability and can't use it... I'm not going to go into a whole biology lesson right now. The point is people who learned that these people existed likened them to gods and goddesses, witches and wizards and all that rot."

"Witches are real!" Rose exclaimed once she had found her voice, her eyes had popped out as she said this.

"Like flying broomstick, wand waving, abracadabra, hocus pocus, witch craft?" Jack asked.

"No. Didn't you just hear me call that stuff rot. Think of immense physic energy strong enough to change the fabric of space around us. Not all of them manipulate the energy to the same extent though. Some are stronger than others, they can effect the world in a greater scale.

"If what this letter says is correct, apparently some crazy lunatic, who thinks of everyone not able to use this energy as cattle came after this boy's family last night and killed his parents, then tried to kill him. This energy can be focused in such a way that it will kill all living things in its path. And nothing can stop it. This boy survived with nothing but that cut. He's going to be famous among his people. That's why he was sent here, to his mother's sister's, who by the way, cannot control this energy.

"Now the guy who wrote this letter asked this lady," The Doctor jerked his thumb towards the house behind him, "To forget the grudge she holds against her sister and give young Harry here a happy home and protect him from the crazed media and the followers of the bastard who got himself killed. Can't have the child savior being killed now can we.

"But I can't trust a guy who will leave a kid alone in the middle of the night leaving nothing but a blanket and a letter to relay this kind of information. And the Tardis sent me here. So," The Doctor stood and started walking towards the gate. The other three following, though one was fast asleep. "We take the kid back to the Tardis and give him a check up. I can't see necrotic energy like that not doing anything. We'll come back tomorrow and have a chat with this sister."

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"Thank god." Jack said, holding his arms up to the sky. "Finally."

After an hour of trying to find the Tardis, the sun was beginning to rise, and there she was, sitting on a street corner, like usual.

"I swear she moved." Responded the Doctor "Honestly." As Jack and Rose turned to glare at him. His hands were stuffed deep into his pockets, but he still held them out and shrugged.

"Yeah, well Harry here's getting a little heavy and he's starting to wake so we better get a move on." Rose snapped at the Doctor. The other two had flat out refused to carry the boy and he had been getting heavier for the past half hour. The Doctor just kept saying it was good to get a work out every now and then. If her hands weren't full he would have been slapped upside the head.

"Actually, I think he's fully awake now." Jack walked up behind Rose and smiled. "Hey kiddo. I'm Jack. Can you tell me your name?"

"Hawy." Harry said in a small voice. Staring at Jack with his large vibrant emerald green eyes. "Where mommy?"

"Mommy can't be here right now. But were gonna take care of you, okay." The little boy nodded. "See this pretty lady holding you here?" Harry looked up into the big brown eyes of Rose smiling back at him. "This is my friend Rose. She's gonna be taking care of you too. And the Doctor. Who appears to already be at the Tardis and is looking impatient. Come on." Jack flashed one of his big smiles at the boy who he was sure barely understood some of what he was saying to ease any nerves, and hurried towards the ship.

"What took you two so long? I'm not getting any younger here."

"He woke up." Said Rose with a smile. "Come on slow poke. We need to get to the infirmary don't we?" She started towards the back doors. But she never got that far.

As soon as she passed the main console, just like it had done the day before, the panel popped open revealing the swirling mass of brilliant white light that was the inner soul of the Tardis. One single tendril of light flowed towards the two at astonishing speed. Rose tried to duck but she wasn't fast enough and the light struck Harry on his forehead, right where he was injured the night before.

Time slowed in the room as a second, stronger beam of energy flowed along the beam attached to the boy still in Rose's arms, and all unable to move to do anything, not knowing what to do even if they could. As soon as the second beam hit, it seemed to slow, like it was trying to force itself beyond a barrier into the boy's head. Harry amazingly wasn't screaming or crying, he was just sitting in Rose's arms with wide eyes staring back into the light.

All of a sudden a high pitched wail erupted from who, at first glance seemed to be Harry, but he wasn't screaming. It was coming from the impact point. The energy seemed to start flowing easier and the volume of the scream intensified.

A black mist began to seep out from along the sides of where the white light was flowing in the center of the scar and coalesce on the floor. As more of this darkness flowed from Harry the more the thing on the floor began to take shape. A writhing mass that looked like it once could have bared resemblance to a human, pale and emaciated. Now it was pitiful, rolling on the ground holding its head screaming in the most unnatural pain. Until the ooze stopped flowing, and the thing gasped, it was holding onto the last essence of life, clinging desperately to the world. Like water lost of its container it flowed away, turning into gas and evaporating into nothingness.

The panel to the Tardis closed sealing her soul within again. But the trickle of energy she had released didn't return. What was left outside of her home continued to flow into the boy till none of the light remained, and his eyes glowed a bright green showing the power was still there inside him, wasn't out of control, and wasn't leaving.

Rose's knees gave and she collapsed to the ground still hugging the boy close to her. The Doctor whipped out his trusty sonic screwdriver and ran over to the child. He saw Harry's eyes dull back to its original, still unique shade of green before he lost consciousness.

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_Thanks to Lalene Brooks for being my beta._


	3. Intro 3 : The Dursley

**Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Who. Though I do own my imagination, from whence this story sprang.**

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**The Doctor's Apprentice**

**Chapter Three**

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"Infirmary!" Jack came running past the Doctor scooping young Harry Potter into his arms.

He was almost to the doors that lead to the rest of the Tardis when he jerked to a stop as the Doctor yelled for him not to move and started stalking towards him.

"This boys psychic energy just caused the Tardis to open like that. Magic, if it helps your puny human mind to remember it better, doesn't play well with others, and his body is filled with it. I thought the Tardis was shielded enough for this not to happen but apparently I was wrong." Anger could be heard in the Doctor's voice as he started changing the setting on his sonic screwdriver and running it up and down the boys body before changing the setting and repeating the process. "Do you really want all the tools in the infirmary to suddenly turn on and start attacking you?

"My sonic screwdriver goes everywhere with me so is protected from pretty much everything. And I need to get him to the infirmary. He's got a lot of stuff going on in his head I know is not good for him. Just keep him comfortable until I am able to get some shields up to protect him and us."

The Doctor jumped up to the main console and began circling it pressing switches. He spun the monitor towards him and stared very seriously at it for a few moments before nodding and said "You can go now." Jack spun around and ran from the room.

"What, um, what was that? What happened?" Rose whispered from where she was still sitting on the floor.

"The bogyman was possessing him." The Doctor held his hand down to Rose to help her up, which she quickly accepted. Though the Doctor had to grab her shoulder to keep her steady as she was still a little shaky on her feet.

"The bogyman?"

"What? You can't take a joke now? I thought that's what you did after peculiar situations. Come on, we need to get to the infirmary and check on Jack and Harry. Hopefully the Tardis was feeling helpful and didn't hide it."

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Thankfully the Tardis was feeling helpful and placed the infirmary in the first room. Harry was lying unconscious on the white examination table, though he had shifted to stick his thumb in his mouth, while Jack was staring slightly confused at the equipment that lined the walls of the light green room.

"Here" the Doctor said, spinning a small glass table out from the underside of the end of the examination table and swinging it so it rested right above Harry's head, though because of Harry's age it wound up being most of his body. "This should take the most accurate reading for what we need."

In the middle of the table, where Harry's head could be seen through the glass, the image changed to view swirling colors showing the inside of Harry's head. The image of a normal brain could be clearly seen outlined in black, but other than that it was a storm of flowing yellow and greens with a rainbow kaleidoscope of color.

"What do all those colors mean, Doctor?" Inquired Rose as she moved to stand at the bottom of Harry's bed.

"It means he's too young. His brain hasn't developed yet and all of a sudden he has a direct link to the time vortex. It's changing to accommodate this new influx of information." The Doctor said sadly looking Rose straight in the eye.

"But he's human." Said Jack. "Or mostly. People can't just change how their brains work, this shouldn't be possible."

"For any normal human it would kill them in a matter of minutes. It's that mostly part that is responsible for this. That and there's only a little trickle of the energy flowing through his head, just enough so that if he focuses he can connect to the rest of it. The energy of the time vortex is mixing with the energy that was already in his body, and like I said before it is a rather unstable mix.

"And that necrotic energy. We should be thankful the Tardis got rid of that. There's no telling what that could have done in the future. It had burrowed into his psyche and when it was removed a hole was left there that was filled by the time vortex.

"But Harry doesn't want to die and his subconscious and instincts combined with his 'magic' are doing everything it can to prevent that. His mind is young enough in its developmental stages and connected enough to his own abilities that everything can be altered a bit."

"I thought you always said you weren't that kind of doctor." Rose tried to joke.

"I happen to know a thing or two about brains." The Doctor responded back with a small smile. "Especially in conjuncture with the time vortex."

"Ah." Rose nodded back. No one quite knew what to say.

"Is he going to survive this?" Jack put in.

The Doctor moved over to the far green wall and gently placed his hand in the center. When he pulled away a small draw came with it, on it resting a small syringe. He picked it up gently and returned to the sleeping child. "This should help." The Doctor injected the solution into Harry's arm. "He is still alive and his brain isn't shutting down so yes, he should wake up in a few hours."

"I can't tell you what he will be like though, how this has changed him. He won't know either. He'll feel something's different and be afraid. But children, and especially humans can be amazing creatures. He should be right as rain soon enough."

"What can we do?" Rose asked, licking her lips and sweeping some bleach blond hair behind her ear and out of the way. She moved along the side of the bed closer to the sleeping child and held his hand, rubbing the back of it with her thumb.

"We can try our best to help him." The doctor gave a small smile. "I'm going to need to teach him how to deal with all the stuff flowing through his head. He's like me now. He can sense the flow of time, feel the universe move around him. I'm the only one left who can teach him how to live with it, but there is no way I'm going domestic." They all snorted at this one. "So we'll have to find someone to take care of him, where I can drop in every now and then to check on him."

Jack grimaced, "Guess we're going back to the sister's then."

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Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, and shunned anything that was not. Mr. Dursley was a profoundly large man with very little neck and a very large mustache where Mrs. Dursley was nearly the exact opposite with a very thin body and a very long neck. They had a young son, Dudley, who even at the age of one already greatly resembled his father.

The morning of Monday, November the Second, 1981, began like any other normal day for the Dursley family. They awoke promptly at seven a.m. and began to prepare for their day. Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills, while Mrs. Dursley spent her days spying on her neighbors and pampering her son.

Their day drifted from the usual when at seven-fifteen Mrs. Dursley stepped out the door to retrieve that day's delivery of fresh milk, trying to balance her overly large son on her hip to free her hand, and found a tall nearly bald man about to knock on her door.

They both stared at each other for a few blinks of the eye when the Doctor face split into a grin and he moved his hand down from the knocking position to shake her hand in greeting.

She looked the man up and down and took in big ears, leather jacked and navy jumper before glancing behind him at the tall handsome man dressed in a tight white t-shirt and blue jeans. Last was what looked like a twenty year old girl with bleach blond hair holding a sleeping baby in her arms.

_'Probably got herself pregnant and is looking for handouts.'_ Petunia sneered and did not hold out her hand to return the Doctors gesture. But ever the polite housewife asked "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes. Petunia Dursley?" The man in the leather inquired as he dropped his hand. His face turned serious. He pulled a wallet out of his pocket and flipped it open to revel a very official looking badge. "John Smith. I was wondering if I could come in. There are some rather delicate matters that need to be discussed."

"Oh. Of course." Mrs. Dursley closed the door momentarily and a yell of 'Vernon. Get out here' was heard through the door before it reopened. "Please do come in. The sitting room is just this way." Mrs. Dursley showed them through a remarkable spotlessly clean light beige hallway lined with pictures of the child in her arms dressed in a variety of vulgar and degrading outfits, and into an equally clean living room. The room was a pale yellow color with a large front window, had a fireplace against the far wall with the mantle covered in more photographs, and two matching recliners and one matching couch facing a brand new television.

"John Smith." The Doctor said to Mr. Dursley as he waddled into the room. Again the Doctor held up his wallet with the piece of psychic paper inside making the Dursley's see whatever he wanted them to. "And these are my associates Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness." Gesturing to both in turn.

"I think you should take a seat for this conversation." Mrs. Dursley placed Dudley in front of the television and turned it on to keep him entertained, while the rest settled themselves into the chairs.

"Mrs. Dursley." Jack began, leaning forward with his hands folded together, looking her in the eye. "I am afraid it falls to me to tell you that your sister Lily and her husband were killed two nights ago."

A small crease formed between Petunia Dursley's eyes as she seemed to be thinking over what this meant. No other expression escaped her face. Either she could hold up a mask like no other, or she really didn't care for her sister.

"If you think we're going to pay for a funeral," Mr. Dursley pointed at Jack, "You are sorely mistaken. We want nothing to do with them."

Mrs. Dursley looked over to the boy asleep in Rose's arms. "I suppose that's her child then. Harry." She spat the name and there was anger seeping into her voice.

"It is. And it is customary in situations such as this to notify the next of kin, you, that Harry is now an orphan and needs a loving home." The Doctor added to the conversation.

The Doctor, Rose and Jack knew this was not going well when Mrs. Dursley glared at Harry. They exchanged glances with each other. _'What could have happened to make her hate her sister and nephew so much?'_

"And I suppose he is just as – unnatural," Mrs. Dursley sneered "as Lily."

"I am afraid I am not sure I know what you are talking about." Jack gave a sideways glance at the Doctor as he said this. He wasn't sure how much he should say about what happened with Harry.

Mrs. Dursley scoffed. "Like you could have any business with anything to do with _her_ and not know what I am talking about."

"But she's your sister" Rose said a little confused. "Don't you care what happened to her? Isn't she the only family you had?"

"My sister," Mrs. Dursley sneered, "Died when she turned eleven, and I found out how much of a _freak_ she really was."

She glanced at her husband who surprisingly had kept pretty quite through the whole ordeal, he was usually so very boisterous. She flattened she skirt, took a deep breath to recompose herself and stood. "I would like you to leave now, and take the little beast with you." The insult had no emotion or force behind it, like it was his name. Mrs. Dursley held the door open for them to leave while Mr. Dursley stood and glared at them thinking he could intimidate them into leaving faster.

"Thank you for your time Mrs. Dursley, and I am sorry for your loss." The Doctor nodded to the two and walked out the door, his two companions following in his wake.

"Well that went well." Rose frowned looking back at the house. "I wouldn't want them near any child. Did you see the way she glared at Harry? Like he's contagious or something."

Jack nodded. "And the lack of reaction to hearing her sister died."

"That's why I didn't push the issue." Said the Doctor. "She clearly has problems. And did you see that kid of hers. Dear god, he's going to have a heart attack before he's five."

"He looked more like a baby pig in clothes." Rose snorted. "Not like our cute Harry here." She lifted the still sleeping baby a little higher on her shoulder.

The Doctor unlocked the door to the Tardis and nodded to Harry. "Yeah. But what are we going to do with cute Harry now?"

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

_Thanks to Lalene Brooks for being my beta._


	4. Intro 4 : Diagon Alley

**Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Who.**

**O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O**

**The Doctor's Apprentice**

**Chapter Four**

**O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O**

"This whole situation is a little off isn't it." Said Rose.

The Doctor, Jack and herself were back in the infirmary checking on Harry again, who still hadn't woken up. She was leaning against a counter examining her nails, thinking, getting more passionate with what she was saying with every word.

"A day after his parents are killed he's left on the doorstep of his aunts house, with nothing but a letter, hoping that the aunt will take the child in and treat him right, cause if what I saw was right, if she didn't just drop him off at the nearest orphanage, he would have wished he had been. Shouldn't someone have called, or shown up in person to have a real conversation with them first. Shouldn't there be paperwork to fill out with Social, or Child Services or something like that. And who knows what kind of trauma watching his parents die could have done, aren't there special instructions to help him deal with the loss of his parents. He may be young but watching something like that will still have some effect, won't it? Shouldn't his parents have had friends or people who would care at least a little, about what happened to him? Didn't you say earlier that he would be famous with his people, shouldn't any of them care what happens to him?"

Jack and the Doctor looked up from where they were examining the colors representing what was happening inside Harry's head, and stared at Rose for a long moment.

"She's right." Jack said looking towards the Doctor.

"His lot keep to themselves, they don't want the rest of the world finding out about them so they have their own system of government, their own world hidden underneath this one. I don't really know anything about them besides that, like how the government is structured or how involved they are with the people that fall under them.

"That's no excuse though. Nothing gives a person the right to leave a baby on an unsuspecting person's porch and hope the person has enough heart to take him in and give him a proper home."

"Didn't say it was. I just said I don't know how involved their government is." The Doctor turned his attention back to the boy sleeping on the table.

"The energy is balancing out, he should wake up in another hour or so. In the meantime, Jack, why don't you nab a newspaper off a doorstep. Earths just started using computers in this time so maybe I can tap into one of them and get some more information. Rose, you keep an eye on Harry." Two men were already almost out the door.

"Oi. Just 'cause I'm a woman does not mean I know what to do with a kid!" Rose scooped him up into her arms. "If he was well enough to come to the Dursley's with us he's well enough to sit on the deck with us." And followed them out of the room.

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

"Nothing. Nada. Not a thing on James or Lily Potter. It might help if I knew Lily's maiden name but James Potter has nothing. No birth certificate, no death certificate, no drivers license, no mortgage, he doesn't exist."

"Apparently thirteen people were killed in a gas main explosion in London yesterday, that's the only big news there, nothing about the downfall of an evil 'wizard'. And the obits only have local deaths, nothing on the Potters." Jack was reclining on a platform against the left wall reading today's copy of _The Sun._ "Do all the people in the 1980's dress this badly?" He flipped the page around showing the Doctor and Rose a full page advert for, what looked like, a woman with ridiculously large hair wearing a black and white polka dotted dress – but it also had shoulder pads making the model's shoulders huge.

Rose snorted, "You should see some pictures I have of my mum from the eighties. HUGE hair, thick blue eye shadow, and latex leopard print pants. You'd die seeing that."

"You just left an image in my mind that's going to leave nightmares for years." The Doctor said, giving Rose a look of disgust. "Never mention this again." He looked back to his screen.

"These people really keep things in house. We'll need to go to the source. The Tardis is looking for where large quantities of psychic energy are. We go there we should find someone able to give us some answers." The Doctor pressed a few buttons on his keyboard. "There are two hot spots in London. One is just a building but the other is an entire neighborhood. I'd say our best luck would be to head to this neighborhood and talk to the locals, maybe see if they have their own version of a newspaper. We may get lucky."

The Doctor flipped a large leaver and the Tardis engines activated.

"He's awake."

Jack and the Doctor looked over to see the boy's striking emerald green eyes wide with fright staring back at them.

"Hi Harry. Remember me, Rose." Harry was laying on the worn yellow couch, with Rose sitting next to him looking down. Harry made no move, just continued to look around. "Is he okay?"

"Would you be if your brain was just completely rewritten?" the Doctor was looking at Rose like she had grown a second head.

"Plus he's only a little over a year old, how much do you think he really understands?" Jack walked over to where Harry was laying and rested a hand on his forehead to take his temperature. "That's back to normal."

"Harry, are you hungry?" Jack asked. Harry nodded.

"What does a one year old eat?" He looked around to the rest of the crew.

The Doctor walked over pulling a banana out of his pocket, peeling it, ripped a piece off and handed it to Harry, who devoured it.

"Bananas. Everyone loves bananas." The Doctor knelt down and looked Harry in the eye. "Does it hurt?"

Harry shook his head indicating he did not. The Doctor walked back towards the console and started inputting new coordinates.

"Harry needs to see a real medical doctor, more than I can give. How about the year 7 billion on the planet Ariel. Best hospitals around and enough different species passing through that someone as unique as Harry won't draw too much attention."

"Why didn't we take him to see a real doctor before then, if you're willing to do it now?" Asked Jack.

"Before he had a firestorm of energy blowing through his brain. I bring that into a hospital of any time and that will raise unwanted questions, my people were the only ones that could physically manipulate the time vortex, so besides me no one can even detect and quantify it, but even if they couldn't detect that, everything else was effected and showing abnormal readings. Even time agents didn't deal directly with the vortex like that. Now that the energy's settled down I need to make sure there weren't any unexpected side effects, so he needs a full check up. Thus, the hospital."

He pulled the final lever and the engines began to sing, sending them on to their next journey.

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

When the four stepped out of the Tardis doors the first thing they noticed was that everything was orderly with gleaming silver and white spiraling towers that reached for the white sky. There were people, and aliens, of every size shape and color moving along the street outside of the alley they were hidden in, but the planet itself looked to be very sterile.

"We should be alongside the hospital now. Some of the best doctors around are here, let's hope we don't have too much trouble getting in." The Doctor said as he rounded the front of the building.

The doors opened themselves as they neared the entrance, revealing a white room filled with people in white clothing running this way and that. He walked over to the reception desk that ran perpendicular to the door. Smiling to the blue reception clerk, he held out his psychic paper and asked "John Smith, Child Services. Is there anyone available to give this boy a full work up?"

The receptionist gave a confused look at the child being held by Rose, who was practically falling out of her arms as he tried to take everything in, then back to the Doctor.

"Don't you have your own people who do that sort of thing?"

"Usually, but this is a very special case that need a very special doctor. Is there one that can spare a few minutes to help a child in need?"

"Oh, um, hold on a moment while I check." Her fingers started flying over the table, and though no keys were present, a grid could be seen drawn out, and an inverse reflection of words could be seen in the glasses on her face showing the frames on her glasses were actually a computer's monitor.

"Yes. Healer Montanue is free. If you would please go to the elevators to the left and head to Ward 3, they should be expecting you."

"Thank you very much, miss." The Doctor nodded, heading off in the indicated direction.

"Wait, Doctor, didn't you say before Harry and medical rooms didn't mix well?" Jack turned to stop the Doctor.

"I did. That was before, this is now. Completely different. Things have changed. Nothing to worry about."

"Care to elaborate."

"Not really. I'm getting kind of sick of having to explain everything. Use that brain you're always trying to tell me you have and think it out."

"How nice." Rose drawled.

The Doctor huffed and while waiting for the elevator said "He's exhausted. How much energy do you think it took to survive what he just went through. It'll be a while until he's got enough energy restored to blow anything up."

Ward 3 was very much like everything else they had seen so far. White. There were very few people, only three small groups of people waiting in the room. All seemed healthy, at least not in any major visible life threatening way.

"This is pediatrics right? It doesn't seem very busy." Rose asked while shifting the boy who was trying to get out of her arms.

"I think I saw a sign back there that said so." Jack spun around looking for any other clue to indicate where they were.

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't care if something dodgie's going on here were not getting involved. In out and on our way. No detours."

"Are you the people from Child Services?" A nasally voice came from the other side of the room, from just about where the office desk was. The gang approached and saw a short bald pale green – they weren't sure of its gender – peering over the outer wall of the desk that restricted the occupants of the room from seeing what 'it' was working on.

"Healer Montanue will see you now. Down the hall third door on the right."

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

"Healer Montanue?" Jack asked as he knocked on the white paneled door.

"Yes. Yes. Come in, take a seat." Healer Montague gestured to the white plush chairs surrounding his glass table.

Healer Montanue looked just like any other average 40ish looking human- 6'2", fit, short dark brown hair, blue eyes and a kind smile.

"Thank you for seeing us on such short notice Healer, I know you must be a very busy man." Jack shook the Healers hand and made the introductions before he took a seat.

"Not a problem. Anything to help a child in need. And it must be something pretty significant if you bring him here?" The inflection of the statement and the look he gave Harry indicated he wanted answers as to what was going on, and the Doctor obliged.

"Harry here's parents were killed recently, the murderer then tried to kill Harry but for some reason, whatever type of energy converter the killer was using bounced of Harry and caused the murderer to flee. The readings our healers took of Harry showed some peculiar results they weren't prepared to handle, so we were hoping you could shed a little more light on the situation and make sure there's nothing wrong with him."

"Okay then, come on into the examination room and we can start. Do you want a full medical work up?"

"That's right. No telling what could have happened."

"Okay then. Just set Harry on the table here." Again, a white table in the middle of a white room with a large window showing silver spiraling towers in every direction. The year 7 billion was clearly in need of an architectural make-over.

"I need you to stay still Harry, can you lie down for me?" Healer Montanue asked the boy who tried to run away as soon as he was put down.

Healer Montague pressed a button on a panel against the wall and blue beams of light cascaded from above surrounding him. A 3-d model of Harry's skeletal structure appeared above him. Healer Montanue began circling the image, examining everything. He could also grab hold of the image and change the rotation of the image so he could better see all sides.

"Initial scan reads neo-human, haven't seen that in a while - no skeletal damage."

He pressed one of the buttons along the wall again and the image shimmered showing Harry's cardio-vascular system. Again no damage. He repeated the process a number of times checking every system of his body for damage, then for any infections or viruses that shouldn't be there, then finally moved to Harry's head for a check-up of Harry's brain.

"You're right. This is strange." He could touch various parts of the model, have the magnification increase, even penetrate the outer layers to see into the very center of Harry's brain.

"Can you go into any detail about what it's showing?" Asked Jack from where the three of them were standing against a wall, out of the way.

"Well for one I can tell you he's got more synapses than is usually seen developed in someone as old as him, there are more active connections between the different sectors of his brain. Children are usually born with about 10 quadrillion synapses that decline and stabilize as they get older. This is saying he started out at 10 quadrillion and that number is slowly increasing. I am pretty sure this means his ability to absorb new information will be incredible.

"What's also odd is that this sector of the brain here is larger than is seen on the average human. It usually isn't very active, just low level psychic perception. This seems to be very active as well, but again, he's too young for me to perform any tests to see if it's strong enough to do anything." He went back to twisting and turning the projection.

"Is there anything else?" Rose frowned and looked the Healer in the eye.

"I can tell you he's fine. No harmful damage, just keep an eye on him, he's got potential."

"Thank you. Is there anything else you need or can we go. Very busy you know."

"No, no." He went to the wall and pressed a few more buttons that shut the system down and a small sheet of glass popped out of the bottom of the panel, which he handed to the closest person, which was Jack. "These are the results, if you need them for your files or if your healers want to look them over."

"Thank you very much." Jack shook the Healers hand. Rose picked Harry up and the trio headed for the door.

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

As soon as they entered the Tardis the Doctor headed straight for the console to reset the coordinates back to 1980's London. Now that Harry was awake and used to being around the three he started showing them his friendly and talkative side, jabbering on in barely understandable English about anything and everything – they couldn't tell what half the time.

Rose was listening raptly to what the little boy was going on about, what exactly that was she had no idea, but he was just too cute.

They saw it was about 4 o'clock in the outside world and if they wanted answers they better get moving. Jack made sure they had a hat on Harry to try and prevent people from noticing it was him and thought up a cover story for who the boy was in case anyone asked.

The Doctor had materialized the Tardis in an alley about a block away from their destination, and headed out with a purposeful stride. After two minutes of walking the Doctors face split into a grin proclaimed "Rather obvious, don't you think?"

Both Jack and Rose looked confused at this. "What's obvious?" They both said.

"The pub. '_The Leakey Cauldron'. _If I didn't know better I'd think these people actually believe themselves to be wizards."

Jack and Rose looked around but didn't see a leaky cauldron, or any pub, anywhere on the street.

"Stupid apes, the both of you." The Doctor walked towards the wall of the building, reached out his hand as if to open a door, and the world shimmered around them. What was once a solid wall separating two storefronts was now an old fashioned wooden door with a sign hanging overhead showing a stereotypical witch stirring a leaking pot.

"Oh." Said Rose with her mouth slightly open.

"How silly of me not to notice." Jack shook his head.

The Doctor had already proceeded into the establishment, and once they realized this they hurried after him. The inside had no windows for natural light, but fireplaces and torches scattered around the walls with candelabras hanging from the ceiling. There was a bar to the right that housed one man passing out drinks, and there were another three waiters bringing platters of food and more drinks to the people who looked to be celebrating.

"Well hit me, these people actually do believe themselves to be witches and wizards." The Doctor muttered.

"Is there anything I can do for you gents?" The man behind the counter asked.

"Yes." Jack said stepping forward to better talk over the noise of the bar. "I've just come over from America and don't have the slightest idea where to go." He added a sheepish grin to the end of his sentence, his American accent actually coming in handy for once.

"Ah, yes, right this way." The old man led them around the counter to a back door, which led to a rather shady walled in alley. He pulled a long polished wooden stick from his pocked and tapped the wall. Jack and Rose gave each other wide eyes and grins _'Oh my God, they have WANDS!'_

They had almost missed the barman saying, "Three up – two across. Tap three times and have a nice trip." The barman turned and headed straight back through the door, but the three adventurers barely noticed. What they did see was the bricks he had tapped quivering, and sliding aside to reveal a small hole, then the other bricks around it started to shift making the hole grow wider and wider until an archway formed showing cobbled streets filled with people and shops lining them beyond.

"Fantastic."

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

_Thanks to Lalene Brooks for being my beta._

_And I should say that Ariel is based on the planet from josh wheatens firefly/serenity, but it is not supposed to actually be that planet._


	5. Intro 5 : Jackie and Gems

**Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Who.**

**O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O**

**The Doctor's Apprentice**

**Chapter Five**

**O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O**

"Oh. My God." Rose whispered stepping through the passageway into the alley beyond.

She looked up and down the street taking in everything she could. She'd been to other worlds before but this seemed the most alien of all – and it was on her Earth. The people themselves looked normal enough, but their clothes ranged from the deepest black imaginable to patterns that swirled and moved on the cloth. Along the street to the right of her was a shop proclaiming it sold '_Cauldrons – All Sizes – Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver – Self Sirring – Collapsible' _and dancing around the sign were the real cauldrons the sign was advertising. She looked across to the other side of the street and saw what at first looked like a normal stationary store, but saw it was filled with the most extravagant feather quills. Through the window all she could see was a collage of fluffy color.

"Come on then." The Doctor nodded forward. "Things to do."

Rose moved up to walk beside the Doctor. "You wouldn't happen to have a few spare quid on you, would you. Cause I think, in a shopping area as fine as this, it would be a shame to waste the opportunity available here."

The Doctor laughed at Rose and kept walking. "You would wouldn't you. We have more pressing matters to attend to. Though I think my first stop will be to that bank up ahead there to see if the Potters had a last will and testament."

Rose nodded at her friend. She knew it was business first fun later.

"I found a paper." Jack jumped up from behind them holding said newspaper in front of him.

After Rose recovered from being startled by Jacks sudden appearance she asked "Where did you get a newspaper? When did you have time to get a newspaper?"

"Just now while you two were talking." The Doctor grabbed the paper out of Jacks hands. "Hey"

The Doctor was walking towards the side of the alley reading the paper. "This isn't good." The Doctor said, holding up the paper for his companions to see the headline. The middle of the page was filled with a large moving picture of a man screaming while to the left of the page was the headline "_Black Betrays Potters" _and to the right "_Black Kills Thirteen"_.

"The picture moves." Rose stated the obvious. The other two glanced at her briefly and moved on.

"Black is Harry's godfather. He was responsible for keeping the Potters hidden from the man who was trying to kill them. Instead he hands the Potters over to him. When another friend tried to confront Black, Black killed him. That explosion in London you mentioned earlier. That was him." The Doctor was very somber and took a deep breath. He flipped the paper over to see the back half and sighed hanging his head. "And Harry's godmother was driven to insanity by some of Blacks associates." He started paging through the rest of the paper.

Jack rested his hand on little Harry's head. "Harry's world fell apart around him."

Rose held Harry a little tighter.

The Doctor dropped the paper and started walking determinedly along the street. "Lets go."

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

They had reached a white building that towered over the other shops. Standing at attention in front of the bronze doors was what Rose could only assume was an alien. She looked towards the Doctor while he leaned over and whispered in her ear - "He's a goblin. They came to earth a few centuries ago looking for a new home. Even though they have space technology they hated being in space. The needed a ground beneath their feet. They just want to coexist peacefully, and for the most part they do. So I never got involved. Lets go in."

The pair of goblins bowed them through the doors they were in a vast ornate marble hall. What seemed to be a hundred goblins were sitting on high stools behind a counter, examining gems through eyeglasses. The walls behind them were lined with doors and yet more goblins were moving in and out of these. The Doctor and his companions headed for the counter.

"Good afternoon, sir." The Doctor grinned at the goblin in front of him. "I was wondering if the Potters had a will and if they did, has it been read?"

"That is private information. What reason do you have for needing to know?" The voice of the goblin was deep and gravely, and could quite easily get on a persons nerves if they were subjected to it for long periods of time.

"Harry Potter has been left in the care of his mother's sister. She was never informed if anything other than her nephew was left to her or if Harry had been left anything. She's a muggle so she asked me to look into it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his psychic paper holding it up to the banker. "Here is a written request."

The goblin took the piece of paper examining it. He stood and said "Follow me please." turning to enter the door behind him. The three looked at each other and quickly followed. They walked in silence for about three long corridors before entering the office of, what the door proclaimed was 'Gernak – Office of Inheritance'.

"Wait one moment please." Their guide requested before stepping into the office.

"Are they really going to just tell us?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"I have no idea. But at least we're getting somewhere."

"And I'm pretty sure having Harry here with us will carry some weight." Jack said.

"Gernak will see you now." The guide goblin came out of the office.

"That was fast." Rose muttered under breath to Jack. "Seems to be the routine lately."

"Thank you very much." The Doctor nodded.

The office was very stately with lots of polished wood and high backed chairs with the walls lined with bookshelves. Behind the mahogany desk was a goblin with a swarthy, clever face, a long but trim beard and very long fingers. "I am Gernak. You wish to see the Potter will?"

"Yes. I was sent by the Dursley's to inquire into their new charges legal standing." The Doctor handed his psychic paper over again.

"And you bring the child in question with you?"

"Yes. Well. It takes some time to prepare a home and they didn't have the supplies so we have him for today."

"Right then." Gernak walked over to one of the bookshelves and removed a rather large leather tomb. He placed it on his desk and started paging through the end.

"Ah here it is. The will leaves young mister Potter in the care of Mister Black. Naturally he is unavailable. Next is his godmother Alice Longbottom, also incapacitated. There are no others listed so that leaves next of kin as the next option. The Dursley's are not listed in the will. The family's house has been left to Harry, but due to what has happened there it has been made inhabitable, and it has become a kind of shrine for the people to grieve the people they lost and thank that he has gone. They also left him all their gold which will become available to him when he turns eleven and starts his education at Hogwarts."

"Do you know if his family had any other friends that should be informed of Harry's wellbeing?" Rose asked.

"All I know is from the press. Peter Pettigrew was murdered and Remus Lupin, because of his condition, is being detained by the Ministry. I don't believe there is anyone else."

The Doctor sighed. This wasn't going well. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"I am sorry but no. They were young and expected to have more time." He walked over to the door and held it open for them to leave.

The Doctor stood and held out his hand to Gernak. "Thank you very much for your time, sir. It has been most appreciated."

"You are most welcome. And take care of the boy Doctor, he is very important." and the door closed.

The three looked at the door with confused looks on their face.

"We never told him your name Doctor."

A small grin took over the Doctor's face. "That just makes it all the more interesting, Jack."

They started back towards the main lobby. "Where to now?" Rose asked

"Now I exchange this gem," The Doctor pulled a palm sized light blue gemstone out of his pockets and held up to the lights, "for some gold and we can do some exploring."

The three had huge grins on their faces and Harry giggled.

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

"Where to first Doctor?" Jack queried as they walked down the street away from Gringotts.

"The bookstore. I need to pick up a book or two. Then we'll just wander around a bit and see where it leads us."

"Can we go there and get a carriage first?" Rose asked pointing to child care shop. "If you refuse to carry him I can't do this for too much longer."

"Sure."

Entering the store they noticed it looked very much like any other children's store. Clothes, diapers, security, toys and anything else a parent could need.

"Don't spend too much time here. Most of this stuff the Tardis can provide."

"Right." Rose nodded and headed straight for the carriage section. "Something small, and something we can run with."

The three looked around for about five minutes till they found the perfect one and set off for the register to make their purchase.

"How much money was that gem worth anyways?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"Enough." He took a small pouch out of his pockets to pay the salesclerk. "And did you know these bags are bigger on the inside so I fit the entire amount in this small easy to carry bag.

"I could use one of those." Rose eyed the pouch after placing Harry in his new seat.

"I'm sure you could." Jack grinned.

"You get to watch Harry now then. My shift ends here. Can I have some of that gold. You can look though books I want to take a proper look around."

The Doctor shook his head and handed a few coins to his friend. "Yeah. Around the clothes shops, or at the boys."

"Oi, none of that now. Jack, who are you going with."

"Sorry Doctor but I think I'm with Rose on this one." He held his hands out like a bowl in front of the Doctor and pouted.

"Oh fine. Here. Meet me back in front of the entrance in an hour."

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**One Hour Later**

"Did anyone notice Harry?" The Doctor was leaning against the wall, nonchalant and cool, waiting for his two companions to arrive.

"Oh, Hello Rose, How was your afternoon Rose, Did you have fun, find anything nice?" Rose quipped back to the Doctor.

"I had a lovely time thank you. Did anyone notice him?"

"No. He was fine." Jack returned, as he was the one in charge of Harry for the afternoon.

"Good. Time to be off." The Doctor spun around to face the wall that blocked their way out.

"And how do we plan to get out? Sonic Screwdriver?" Jack asked.

"Well – No. Its a screwdriver. What's a screwdriver going to do to a brick wall? This was activated by certain points being activated with psychic energy, so if I..." The Doctor pulled his psychic paper out of his pocket and held it up against the wall. The bricks started to quiver and the Doctors grin intensified. "Fantastic."

Going back through the bar was even more crowded and they went by unnoticed.

After arriving back at the Tardis they all crashed onto the yellow chair. Harry was being entertained by a child's snitch that he had roped Rose into buying for him during their outing.

"Well what do we do now." Jack put out to the group.

"I really have to be getting Margret back to her planet. And I'm not bringing him with me. With our luck who knows what could happen to him.

"There's my mum." Rose had her head rested back and her eyes were closed.

The Doctor let out a laugh. "I couldn't put anyone through that."

Rose faced the Doctor and glared at him. "She's my mum. And she raised me just fine don't you think. It wouldn't be for long, just till we find someone."

"She's got a point, Doctor." said Jack.

The Doctor looked over at the Tardis engines, pensive. "You do." His head snapped back to look Rose in the eye. "Only you are going to go in first and explain to her what's going on. I'm not going to be slapped by Jackie 'cause she thinks I let you get pregnant or something."

Rose sputtered for a moment as Jack laughed at the thought.

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**Powel Estate, London, 2005**

Jackie Tyler had just settled down on the couch with a nice cup of tea and was prepared to spend the rest of the night watching the tellie when she heard a sound she had been praying would come and the wind in the apartment began to pick up. She pulled her legs onto the couch with her worrying that the Doctors landing wouldn't be spot on. In the corner of the room, out of the way of any furniture the large blue police box blinked into being.

"Rose!" Jackie shouted and leaped up to greet her daughter that should be coming out of the door, and she wasn't disappointed.

"Mum." Rose said with a smile giving her mother a big hug. "When are we? Have we been gone long?"

"Not to long now sweetie. Would you like a cuppa? The water's still hot."

"No thanks mum, but, I um. I have a favor to ask you."

Jackie sat on the couch and patted the spot next to her indicating Rose should sit too. "So talk."

"Well. You see." Rose paused for a moment to think about how to say what it. "We found ourselves responsible for a baby, and he's got no one to take care of him, so while we look for a suitable home we were wondering if you, ya know, wouldn't mind watching him for us."

Jackie just started at her daughter blankly for a moment, blinking. Until the child in question ran out the Tardis doors right into Rose's leg.

"You were supposed to watch him." Rose yelled at the two men who were peeking out from behind the Tardis doors.

"Sorry." Both murmured. They stepped out when they noticed that Jackie had joined the child on the floor and was playing with him.

"He's adorable. What's your name?" Jackie asked.

"Harry." he said.

"What a nice name. Does he have a last name?"

"We shouldn't tell you." The Doctor intervened. "He's from 1981 so using his last name could cause some problems. He should probably use Tyler while he stays with you."

"And who said I'd agreed to let him stay with me."

The time travelers just looked at each other then back at the woman they hoped would help them.

"Will you help us?" Jack asked.

"I can't afford to take care of a child right now. With Rose I had her father's life insurance but now." Jackie shrugged.

"Here." He pulled another gem from his pocket and Jackie's eyes widened in astonishment. "This should cover everything."

"Where do you keep those?" Rose asked eying the Doctors pockets. He just grinned at her.

Jackie took the stone and starting at it with wide eyes said, "I'd love to take him. He's having your room Rose."

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_Thanks to Lalene Brooks for being my beta, and remind me to give her a cookie if ever I meet her.  
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	6. Intro 6 : A Home

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**The Doctor's Apprentice**

**Chapter 6**

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**Powell Estate, London, 2005**

"Here you go Jackie." Jack came out of the Tardis with some supplies for Harry that the ship had mysteriously produced as they were needed.

"Oh. Thanks. You can just leave them in Rose's room. I'll have to do some proper shopping later on. Will you be staying for dinner?" Jackie was moving around the living room making it baby proof, moving nicknack's to higher shelves and anything else a child could put into their mouth.

The Doctor yelled from inside the Tardis, "No. We should be off soon. We need to drop off an egg."

"Egg?" Jackie mouthed to Jack. He shook his headed and waved his arm in a dismissing manner letter her know she didn't want to know.

"No you won't." Jackie yelled back to the Doctor while still tidying.

"Yes, we will." The Doctor exited the Tardis and casually leaned against the door crossing his arms looking very stern.

Jackie walked right up to the Doctor and stated very firmly "You show up in my apartment and ask me to do a rather large, time consuming and possibly life changing favor for you – then you just take off. I don't think so mister. You are going to sit down and tell me exactly what's going on here and why you need to find someone to look after him. You don't get involved long term. That means it has to be something important and I need to know what."

"Sorry Jackie but I can't. Things to do, planets to save. I'll be around soon to check on things with him. If something happens, or things start blowing up give Rose a call and we'll come fix it. Till then just raise him right and be aware he might catch on to new information a little quickly. Time to go. See you later then." The Doctor was about to take a step back into the Tardis to make a quick getaway when the hand of Jackie Tyler met his cheek with an incredible force.

"Do Not Patronize me mister. I haven't seen Rose in weeks. We are going to spend some time together, have a meal, and you are going to tell me exactly what is going on here." Jackie's face was red as she reamed the Doctor a new one.

Everyone stood silent and awkward for a moment, not knowing how to continue. The T.V. in the background was still going softly and Harry could be heard playing with some blocks, having had completely ignored the fighting going on around him.

"I haven't got any food in the fridge right now so anyone up for ordering a pizza?" Jackie tried to return her voice to normal, but was still so tense and glaring at the Doctor that is still came out harsh.

"Yeah. Sure." Rose said trying to figure out what to do in this situation, looking back and forth between her mother and the Doctor. "Yeah, I'll just order it now. Have it delivered, then." She turned and ran into the kitchen closing the door behind her. Jack quickly followed suit.

"Is there anything in particular you want to know?" The Doctor plopped down into the couch crossing his arms and had a fake smile plastered onto his face.

"Yes, I do. Who is he?" She pointed to the child on the floor. "I'm not going to be arrested for kidnapping, am I?" She sat in the chair across from the Doctor and crossed her arms to match him.

"No." The Doctor scoffed shaking his head. "Of course not. He's from 1981. No one will be looking for him here."

"Then why'd you tell me not to use his name then, huh?"

"Because I will have to bring him back to his time eventually. He belongs there and has things to do. He might be out there in the city right now using his name. He has a very distinctive scar. It wouldn't be too hard to piece the two of them together if he was noticed don't you think."

Jackie was quiet for a moment, glaring at the Doctor. "Who is he? Why would he be noticed?"

The Doctor unlocked his arms and reached into his pocket, pulling out a piece of folded yellow – parchment? Jackie looked a bit confused staring at the paper that had not been used for years.

"What's that then?" Jackie reached out to take the paper.

"Just read it." The Doctor stood and headed into the kitchen to find out how dinner was coming along.

Jackie sat silently on the couch reading the letter over and over again. It didn't make sense. It was impossible, but so was the Doctor. And as much as she hated that man for taking her daughter away from her she knew the Doctor wouldn't make something like this up.

She looked over at Harry, amusing himself with some toys she still had from Rose's childhood. He looked harmless, just like any other little boy. She scoffed at the thought that a madman in the eighties of all places had tried to kill him. And magic. What a load of tosh that is. But it was real. It had happened. And as crazy as it all sounded she believed it.

She moved to sit down next to Harry on the floor. He handed some of his new toys to her with a smile on his face. How could she not take him in. She certainly couldn't leave him to the Doctor. Who knew what would happen if he was given responsibility over someone who couldn't run. Or yell for help.

She picked up Harry and one of his toys and marched into the kitchen.

"Why did you bring him with you. This letter was left to his aunt. He should be with her."

The Doctor, Rose and Jack were sitting at the table laughing about some thing, but had stopped when Jackie came into the room.

"She was, oohh, how do I say it," Rose handed her mother a cup of tea she had made while hiding.

"She hated him." Jack said when Rose couldn't accurately describe the situation.

"It was more than that." Rose shook her head. "She loathed him. And she was so strict and stern. She couldn't relax... It was just everything about her."

"Even if she was rotten to the core something must have happened for you to become actively involved and not leave him dumped on a doorstep somewhere."

"It's surprising you say dumped on a doorstep actually, 'cause that's how we found him." Rose muttered, followed by a moment of silence.

"Jackie, his..." the Doctor paused, shaking his head. "His... uncontrolled magic... reacts badly to other sources of power."

Rose cut in with a smirk. "It kills you to say magic doesn't it."

"Yes it does." He nodded. "Jackie it's a form of science using certain types of energy focused with an individual's state of mind and a lot of stuff you wouldn't understand. From here on out I will call psychic energy."

"And mum, the best bit is that they all believe themselves to be real witches and wizards."

"And in magic." Jack laughed. "What do you want to bet that they believe that are doing real magic. That they have no idea how they do what they do."

"They do and they don't. They know how to manipulate psychic energy on a certain level and have theories and equations for that, but they don't have the faintest idea where it comes from or the full extent of what they can do."

"I thought you didn't know that much about them?" Rose asked.

"I didn't. I read up while I was at the bookstore. What do you think I did for an hour? Not everyone reads as slow as you" Rose and Jack shook their heads as he went back to his usual habit of insulting the lesser species.

"Hello." Jackie said loudly waving her hand across the middle of the table. "Questions. Answers. Now."

"I was, before I was so rudely interrupted." The Doctor nodded slightly at Rose. Rose shrugged back.

"So continue." Jackie glared at the Doctor.

So the Doctor explained. He summarized for Jackie the events that occurred in the Tardis and the effect they had on Harry. And the Dursleys and why they were unsuitable for his precise needs. The pizza was delivered during the story so they had continued while eating.

"He's not going to blow up my tellie or bring my hair dryer to life is he?"

The Doctor blinked, slightly dumbfounded at Jackie's first question before shaking his head no.

"Is he going to be different from other kids his age?"

"No. He's still just a human boy just like any other."

"And his magic's not going to change anything?"

"Right now, not so much. The psychic energy and the energy from the time vortex are trying to balance out. Until it does not much is going to happen and he'll be just fine. And even then he probably will only do something during highly emotional moments."

"When will he get control over everything?"

"Consciously, not until eleven. When he can start doing accidental outbursts, not a clue."

"Well you're a load of help aren't you?"

"Oiy, it's not like I have much experience with this sort of thing you know. No one does. It's a miracle this kid is alive. That his puny little human brain can handle this kind of trauma and not shut down it a testament to his psychic abilities. As his brain develops he will be able to process more and more information and control them more easily. Yes it's already making changes but for the next few months it will be minimal. I can't explain everything to you, because frankly, you wouldn't understand."

"Right." Jackie sighed. "I'll take him in. What else could I do."

The Doctor smiled and stood. "Thank you Jackie. You're fantastic." He headed towards the door. "Come on. Were leaving."

"That's it?" Jackie yelled, "You're leaving?"

"What else is there to do?" The Doctor questioned. "If something happens call Rose." Pointing at the girl as he said Rose's name. He turned to unlock the Tardis door.

"I could spend some time with my daughter. Talk about something other than business. "

"Nope. Time to go. And you're not changing my mind this time Jackie Tyler. Rose, Jack, come on. We're leaving." He turned and strolled onto the main deck.

"It was nice to meat you Jackie." Jack gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek good bye and followed the Doctor into the Tardis.

"I like that man." Jackie said after him.

Rose laughed and turned to give her mother a big hug goodbye.

"I love you mum."

"I love you too, Rose. Make sure you call me okay. Let me know you're alive. I hate worrying about you."

"I know mum, and bye Harry." She bent over to place a kiss on his head. "I'll see you soon." She stepped into the Tardis and closed the door behind her.

The lights started flashing and the Tardis started fading out of existence.

"Well Harry. It's just you and me now." She picked him up and settled the small boy into her arms. "What are we going to do with ourselves?"

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It had been four months since Jackie had seen or heard from her daughter. She always had a slight twinge of nervousness in the back of her head as to whether of not Rose was okay, but she trusted that the Doctor would bring her home. Rose had been gone for longer before.

It had also been four months since she had taken Harry in.

Harry had adjusted to his new life quite easily and Jackie found that the young boy was a happy adventurous child who loved exploring new places and discovering new things, which Jackie encourage by taking him on outings whenever she could. He had his own room set up, mostly. Rose's bed was pushed to the side to make room for his crib, and all of Rose's belonging were piled in the closet till she could come and decide what to do with them.

Jackie was slightly worried that Harry would start performing magic and give away that there was something different about him. She had noticed some odd things every once in a while, like a toy that had been on the floor would find itself in Harry's crib by morning, or that if Harry really didn't want to eat something that bit of food would disappear. But nothing blatantly obvious or cause unwanted attention happened and Jackie was perfectly happy to encourage the little things that did, as long as she could teach him to do it in the privacy of their flat.

The Doctor had been right when he said Harry would learn quickly. At nineteen months he was talking, he was starting to read, was figuring things out on his own and was getting better at walking on his own.

Jackie was worried when she took Harry in that he would be a bit peculiar and it would be difficult for him to fit in, so she would take him to playgrounds in the neighborhood and made play dates with other children the same age. She was glad to find that he was very personable and got along quite well with the other children the lived on the estate. It also helped that Harry was such a happy child that her neighbors would love to take him for the afternoon and give her the odd afternoon to herself.

She did have some trouble convincing the neighbors that Harry was in fact the son of her late husband's recently deceased sister, and not as they all assumed her grandson. She was only thirty-nine for pete's sake, and Rose was only twenty. Not nearly old enough to be starting a family. 'Yes Rose disappeared for over a year and a half but she was not hiding a pregnancy.' She knew that they all gossiped and didn't believe her when she said he was her nephew, but she would just glare and carry on her way.

Jackie had been on her way home from an outing to the park when not ten minutes ago her cell rang with Mickey on the other end. He didn't say very much but what he did had her rushing over to the other side of the neighborhood. Rose was back. Without the Doctor. And she was frantic.

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Jackie met up with Rose and Mickey in front of the Tardis. When Rose saw her coming she ran to her mother and cried into her shoulder like she hadn't done in a while. Through the crying Jackie was able to discern that they had become involved in a war, that there was a huge fleet of something called a dalek about to destroy the Earth, and the Doctor had sent her back trapping himself there with no chance of survival. After Rose stopped hyperventilating Mickey led them to a small chip shop a block away where they could get something to eat and hopefully distract Rose a little from what she had left behind.

Jackie and Mickey kept trying to convince Rose to join in on the mindless conversation. They would talk about anything and nothing at all, changing subjects at the drop of a hat, trying to find some topic that would stop Rose from gazing out the window with a faraway look in her eyes, looking incredibly depressed.

Mickey glanced at Rose, heartily eating his fries. "Have you tried that new pizza place down Minto Road?"

"What's it selling?" Jackie asked acting like she was truly interested in the conversation, and keeping an eye on Harry as he shoved his chips into his mouth. "One at a time." She said to him, taking some from his hand and putting them back in the box.

"Pizza."

"Oh, that's nice. Do they deliver?"

"Yeah!" Mickey said that a bit too enthusiastically.

Jackie took another look at Rose, and then abandoned all pretense of having an ordinary conversation. "Oh Rose," She pleaded, "Have something to eat."

Rose's eyes did not leave the window, and with a trembling voice said, "Two hundred thousand years in the future, he's dying, and there's _nothing _I can do."

"Well, like you said - two hundred thousand years - it's way off!"

Rose finally looked to her mother, tears still in her eyes and started yelling obviously upset. "But it's not! It's now! That fight is happening right now, and he's fighting for us! For the whole planet, and I'm just sitting here eating chips!

Jackie had to stop Rose's tirade before she went off the deep end and started hyperventilating again. "Listen to me" Jackie said sternly. Surprisingly Rose turned to face her mother, falling silent.** "**God knows I have hated that man, but right now, I love him - and d'you know why? Because he did the right thing. He sent you back to me." She went back to her chips as if she closed the matter when she declared he did the right thing and everything was well with the world.

But for Rose everything wasn't well, and she was desperate for something to cling to, some hope. "But what do I do every day, mum? What do I do? Get up - catch the bus - go to work - come back home - eat chips and go to bed? Is that it?"

That statement hurt Mickey, and he responded coldly. "It's what the rest of us do."

"But I can't!" Rose cried.

"Why," Mickey shot back "Cause you're better than us?"

Rose became frustrated with her friend. "No, I didn't mean that!" She paused and took a deep breath trying to calm herself down, and spoke softly. "But it was... it was a better life. And I - I don't mean all the traveling and... seeing aliens and spaceships and things - that don't matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life." She looked towards Mickey,_ "_You know, he showed you too." Rose became more passionate with every word."That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't-" Rose kicked the table in frustration and ran out of the shop in despair.

Jackie and Mickey glanced at one another.

"We'll have to chase after her you know." Mickey said and shoved a couple more chips into his mouth.

Jackie looked back and forth between Mickey and Harry and sighed seeing the similarities in the way they were eating. "I know. I'll wrap this up you go after her. Call me."

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Jackie had been home for half an hour. She was playing with Harry, but she was keeping an eye on her cell at all times. Mickey was texting her updates every few minutes and she was on the edge of her seat waiting for the next one.

**'She's seeing messages in graffiti. Thinks its a link to getting her back.'**

**'We're headed back to the Tardis.'**

**'Trying to open a panel of Tardis. Its alive and she wants to talk to it.' '**

**'Cars not strong enough to pull it open. Come help.' **

Jackie dropped everything picked up Harry and ran off to help her daughter.

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When Jackie found Rose she was slumped in one of the chairs next the Tardis console, staring off into space, looking completely defeated.

"It was never gonna work, sweetheart. And the Doctor knew that. He just wanted you to be safe." Jackie said consolingly.

"I can't give up."

"Lock the door. Walk away."

"Dad wouldn't give up."

"Well, he's not here, is he?" Jackie got a little angry as she said this more forcefully than she had meant to. Rose looked at her mother in silence for a moment until Jackie continued. "And even if he was, he'd say the same."

"No, he wouldn't." Rose shook her head. Now it was Jackie's turn to stare. "He'd tell me to try anything. If I could save the Doctor's life... try anything."

"Well, we're never gonna know."

"Well, I know. 'Cause I met him. I met Dad."

Jackie was slightly dismayed at this and said quietly, "Don't be ridiculous."

Rose sat up straight and looked her mother straight in the eye and said, "The Doctor took me back in time, and I met Dad."

"Don't say that."

"Remember when Dad died...? There was someone with him. A girl. A blonde girl. She held his hand..." Jackie just remained silent, and Rose started crying. _"_You saw her from a distance, mum! You saw her! Think about it! That was me. You saw me--"

Jackie stopped Rose my saying sharply, "Stop it."

"That'show good the Doctor is--"

Jackie started yelling now._"_Stop it! Just stop it!" She turned and ran from the Tardis crying, leaving Rose alone with her grief.

Jackie ran to where Mickey was playing with Harry and picked him up hugging him tightly and rocking him, crying against him. Harry was surprised for a moment before hugging the woman who was like a mother to him in return and asking her if she had a booboo making Jackie smile a little.

"No Harry. I'll be okay. I just needed a hug." Jackie wiped the tears off and plastered a smile to her face. "Can you keep an eye on Mickey here. There's something I have to do."

Harry nodded and looked up at Mickey, crossing his arms trying to look in control and responsible, making Jackie laugh for real this time. She looked at Mickey and he nodded placing a hand on Harry's wild hair.

"Cm' on Har, lets go check on Rose, yeah."

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Mickey and Rose were leaning against Mickey's dark blue mini, looking at the Tardis while Harry lay on the roof cloud gazing.

"There's gotta be something else we can do." Mickey said

"Frog." Harry voice cut into the conversation.

Rose sighed, "Mum was right... maybe we should just lock the door and walk away."

"I'm not having that. I'm not having you just-- just give up now. No way.

"The Stig." Mickey and Rose paused to look at Harry and then up at the clouds, confused.

"Which one?" Mickey asked looking around at all the clouds that filled the sky. It was a fairly overcast day so he wasn't even sure in the first place how Harry was able to play.

"The white one." Harry said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"They're all white. Oh never mind. Carry on kiddo." Mickey turned back to Rose to see the corners of her lips slightly upturned. "We just need something stronger than my car... something bigger... something like that!"

They both turn around as they hear the roar of an engine and a huge recovery truck turned around the corner. Rose grinned in amazement. It came to a halt and Jackie climbed out, striding towards them

"Right." Jackie said nonchalantly. "You've only got this until six o' clock, so get on with it."

Rose was astounded. "Mum, where the hell did you get that from?"

"Rodrigo. He owes me a favor. Never mind why, but you were right about your dad, sweetheart. He was full of mad ideas, and this is exactly what he would've done. Now, get on with it before I change my mind." She chucked the keys at Mickey, who caught them with a laugh. Rose ran back into the Tardis with a grin.

"Think Harry would enjoy a ride?" Mickey asked Jackie as he moved towards the truck.

"No way mister." Jackie shouted back. "Just get this thing moving."

Mickey attached one end of a chain to the truck while Rose attached the other to the console. Jackie and Harry watched by the Tardis doors as Mickey started the engine and Rose waited anxiously by the console.

Rose's voice could be heard faintly by the door, "Keep going!" Which Jackie relayed onto Mickey with a _"_Put your foot down!"

"Faster!" Rose yells.

"Give it some more, Mickey!"

Mickey was giving it his all and the metal of the chain could be heard creaking.

"Keep it going!" Rose urged on.

"Come on, come on!" Jackie urged.

Harry got into the spirit of things too and started jumping up and down clapping his hands together yelling "Come on!" with Jackie.

The rear wheel tires started to smoke and they started to fear even the large truck wouldn't do the trick.

Finally, the catch ripped off and the panel opened revealing a blinding white light that poured out of the console. The pickup truck lurched forward as the chain went slack. Rose moved forward to look into the light, and it reflected onto her face so she glowed with golden light and a breeze blew through her hair as the light flows into her eyes in two golden streams

"Rose!" Mickey yelled as he rushed towards the Tardis, but the door slammed shut before he could reach it.

Jackie covered her mouth in shock and let out a small sob. As the engines of the Tardis started roaring to life and wind started blowing up around it she pulled Mickey and Harry back out of the way. Jackie looked at Mickey completely bewildered as Mickey breathed heavily both staring at the spot where Rose and the Tardis disappeared, both surprised it actually worked.

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_First and foremost, a big thanks to my beta, Lalene Brooks, for doing a fantastic job._

_You may have noticed a good portion of the latter half of the chapter was taken from Doctor Who S01E13 Parting of Ways written by Russell T Davies, not me._

_I was feeling silly, and probably shouldn't have done it, but The Stig is a mythical creature from the BBC show 'Top Gear'. There's actually a joke in there if you really squint._

_Silly but slightly irrelevant story._

_I was in line for a concert (boston city singers), and standing in line in front of me was, well, he was average hight, really short black hair(whiffle), black leather jacket, black jumper, black jeans, black boots, big ears... my brother and I had to look away to stop grinning at the sight of him. After we had seated we noticed he was siting in the pew(it was in a really old gothic style church) across from us and was by himself. During intermission we noticed that the man we had dubbed 'nine' had disappeared, so my brother 'got up for a walk'. 10 minutes later he came back to report that 'nine' was hiding in the shadows in the back of the church talking to an old man in an eye patch... I didn't see nine again. But I did notice eye patch guy wandering around._

Please review. Just click the little button bellow and review, even if there's another dozen chapters just click review and tell me what you think of the story so far, please.


	7. Intro 7 : The Christmas Invasion

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**The Doctor's Apprentice**

**Chapter 7**

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It was Christmas Eve and Jackie Tyler was preparing her home for the big day. There were glowing plastic santas balanced in the windows with green and red paper chains hung around the doors. She was attempting to show Harry how to properly hang the red baubles on her white Christmas tree standing in the corner of the living room, but he was more interested in a model train one of his friends on the estate had given him earlier in the day. Jackie laughed at his stubbornness on the matter and picked up two presents from a desk table to put them under the tree when the label of one of them caught her eye. She moved slowly to sit on her worn beige couch staring at the label which said,_ 'To Rose. Merry Christmas. Lots of love, Mum x.' _

Days had turned into weeks, and weeks into months and still Jackie didn't hear back from her daughter. Everyday she fretted about the safety of her only daughter, Rose. She knew her daughter was headed off to a potentially life threatening situation and while she knew there was the possibility Rose could die while attempting to save the Doctor, she knew in her heart and hoped upon hope that she was still alive and would return alive and whole to her. She took a deep breath and got up, placing the two presents under the tree. Hopefully Rose would return home to open hers.

"What do you think Harry, will Rose come home for Christmas?"

Harry had helped her tremendously dealing emotionally with the endless possibilities of Rose's fate. He was always running around and getting into trouble distracting Jackie from her torturous thoughts.

The little boy looked up to the ceiling and scrunched his nose in thought. "Three minutes." Harry nodded.

Jackie laughed and moved to hang some Christmas cards on a length of string on the walls.

Two minutes later Jackie heard Harry yell her name startled Jackie dropped the cards she was holding and ran to the window Harry was looking out of worried that something was very wrong with her charge.

He had small tears running down his cheeks that increased her worry. "What's wrong sweetheart? What happened?" She cooed and placed a hand on her forehead to check his temperature, there was a small one. The scar on his forehead looked a little irritated and she was concerned that there could be something more too it.

But then Jackie heard a sound she had been praying for months to hear and it whipped all other thoughts from her mind – the Tardis engines.

"Rose!" Jackie with Harry in her arms flew to the front doors and down the stairs towards where the sound was coming from.

In the cement yard in front of her building another person was running towards the clearing where the Tardis had previously docked itself.

"Mickey!" Jackie yelled as saw the young black man running towards her from the other direction.

"Jackie, it's the TARDIS!"

"I know! I know, I heard it! She's alive, Mickey! I said so, didn't I? She's alive!" Jackie was ecstatic at the thought of seeing Rose again and was frantically looking around the square for a sign of a big blue box materializing.

"Shush! Shut up a minute!" Mickey waved his arm at Jackie shushing her as he also looked around.

"Well, where is it then?" Jackie was frustrated that she could hear it but could see nothing.

"Up." Harry pointed to the sky and Jackie and Mickey spun to look toward where he was pointing.

They both looked to the sky just in time to see the Tardis appear out of thin air about twenty feet above their heads and crash into the buildings on either side of them as it fell towards Earth. Jackie screamed and grabbed onto Mickey to pull him down as it sped towards them. The Tardis just missed their heads and finally skidded to a halt, smashing into a van and knocking over some garbage cans on the way. Jackie and Mickey sped over towards the Tardis to see if the passengers were okay.

When they got there they were greeted to the sight of a tall thin man with wild brown hair throwing the doors wide open and peering out with his mouth hanging wide open.

"Here we are, then!" The man stumbled out of the Tardis, looking upwards with his mouth still hanging wide open. "London! Earth! The Solar System! We did it!" It took him a moment to finally notice Jackie and Mickey were both staring at him.

"Jackie! Mickey! Blimey! No, no, no, hold on." He stumbled backwards a few steps. "Wait there, I've got something to say. There was something I had to tell you. Something important, what was it? No, hold on, hold on..." The strange man staggered back towards Jackie and Mickey and put his hands on their shoulders, apparently thinking hard. "Hold on, shush, shush, shush... OH!" He yelled causing the people on either side of him to jump in alarm. "I know! Merry Christmas!" And he collapsed, falling to the ground unconscious.

"What happened? Is he alright?" Rose had just come out of the Tardis to see the man laying on the ground.

Mickey was the first to respond distressed at the situation he had just witnessed. "I don't know, he just keeled over! But who is he? Where's the Doctor?"

"That's him. Right in front of you. That's the Doctor."

"What do you mean," Jackie whinnied looking up at her daughter from where she had knelt to see if the stranger was okay. " 'That's the Doctor?' Doctor who?"

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The Doctor was wearing a pair of white and light blue striped pajamas and was fast asleep tucked into Jackie's bed. Mickey had moved Harry's crib into the same room so they could keep an eye on the boy who had been put to bed for the night. Rose had momentarily left her vigil at the side of the bed to get some food from the kitchen when Jackie finally had enough and started to interrogate her.

"Harry hasn't been sick once his in the eight months he's been living with me, then you show up with the Doctor dying and Harry gets ill. What's going on?" Jackie was clearly pissed and wanted answers.

"I don't know." Rose shook her face. "Maybe it has something to do with the Vortex?" She turned to look through the fridge so her mother couldn't see her face as she made up, "There's a bit in the Doctor, and there's a bit in Harry, and with the Doctor as sick as he is, Harry's feeling a bit of it too?"

"Oh that's rubbish and you know it. Fine, then how can he go changing his face?"

Rose shut the fridge door a bit more vigorously than she normally would have as Jackie continued asking questions.

"Is that a different face or is he a different person?"

Rose became frustrated and responded a bit too harshly "How should I know?!" She paused for a moment before turning to face her mother. "Sorry." She sighed. "The thing is... I thought I knew him, mum." Rose became teary eyed and her voice started to tremble. "I thought me and him were... and then he goes and does this." She wiped some tears away. "I keep forgetting he's not human." Rose took her mother's hand and obviously trying to make her voice light-hearted changing the subject asked "The big question is... where'd you get a pair of men's pajamas from?"

"Howard's been staying over." Jackie started walking away as if this news was nothing.

"What, Howard from the market? How long's that been going on?"

"A month or so. First of all, he starts delivering to the door and I thought, 'that's a bit odd'. Next thing you know, he says a boy like Harry's got to have a man somewhere in his life..."

"Is that Harriet Jones?!" Rose cut off what Jackie was saying and left the kitchen towards the TV. "Why's she on the telly?"

"She's Prime Minister now. I'm eighteen quid a week better off." Rose smiled incredulously at her mother. "They're calling it 'Britain's Golden Age'. Keep on saying 'my Rose has met her'."

"Did more than that. Stopped World War Three with her. Harriet Jones... Oh. You were tellin' me bout Howard?"

"Yeah." Jackie slapped Roses arm lightly. "Before I was so rudely interrupted. He was coming by bringing bags of oranges, then he'd start usin' them to play catch with Harry, havin' the time of his life, he was."

Rose opened her mouth to respond when Mickey waltzed into the room. "Come on Rose, let's do some Christmas shopping. I'm getting you out of this apartment for a little while."

"But the Doctor... I should be here..." She pointed vaguely to the room where the man in question was unconscious.

But Mickey was having none of that. He pulled Rose to her feet and tugged her towards the front door all the while saying "Jackie'll be here if something happens and she'll call you if it does. In the meantime were giving you a taste of normal." And the front door slammed shut behind him.

"Does no one care to listen to me?" Jackie pouted looking at the spot where Rose sat a minute ago.

Harry climbed up onto the couch and laid down with his head resting against Jackie's leg.

Jackie's mouth dropped open. "How did you get here?" She brushed some hair out of the little boy's eyes.

"Can you tell me a story?" Harry cuddled into the couch a little more.

That brought a smile to her face and she began telling him the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

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Harry had fallen asleep on the couch and Jackie had been content to let him stay there while she installed a new Christmas tree that had been delivered, then Bev from a down the way called and she became distracted by the mindless gossip that comes with a neighborhood friend.

She had been on the phone for twenty minutes when Rose came barging through the front doors yelling, "Get off the phone!"

"It's only Bev!" Said Jackie confused at her daughters entrance. "She says hello."

Rose grabbed the phone from her mum and said into it, "Bev? Yeah-- look, it'll have to wait." hung up and looked to her mother and Mickey. "Right, it's not safe, we've gotta get out - where can we go?"

"My mate Stan, he'll put us up." Mickey said.

"That's only two streets away." Rose waved Mickey suggestion off and turned to Jackie. "What about Mo? Where's she living now?"

"I dunno! Peak District!"

"Oh, we'll go to Cousin Mo's then."

"It's Christmas Eve!" Jackie yelled at her daughter, confused.. "We're not going anywhere! What're you babbling about?"

"Mum..." But she paused as she noticed new tree standing in the corner of the room. "Where'd you get that tree?" They all turn to look at the now full sized green tree instead of Jackie's miniature white one. "That's a new tree. Where'd you get it?"

"Well, I thought it was you!"

"How can it be me?"

"Well, you went shopping, there was a ring at the door, and there it was!"

"No, that wasn't me."

"Then who was it...?"

They all slowly turned towards it and for a moment started at the tree in shock before Rose pulled her mother behind her and Mickey picked up Harry from off the couch.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." Rose complained as the tree started to spin, slowly at first then very fast as it started to play 'Jingle Bells' and started to move across the room towards them reducing the coffee table to firewood.

Mickey passed a now awake Harry to Jackie and picked up a chair to hold it in font of him as protection. "Go, go, go! Get out!" Urging Rose and Jackie to run from the room. Jackie ran to the front door but Rose ran to the Doctor's and Jackie couldn't leave her daughter behind.

"We've got to save the Doctor!" Rose yelled moving to the Doctors bedside.

"What're you doing?!" Jackie yelled back incredulously.

"We can't just leave him!" Rose shouted back.

Jackie looked around the corner to see the Christmas tree eat the legs of the chair he was holding. "Mickey! Leave it! Get out! Get out!" But Mickey was standing his ground. "Mickey! Get out of there!" The situation became too intense and he left to join Jackie in the hallway.

"Just leave him!" Jackie tried to convince Rose to leave the apartment with her.

Mickey annoyed at the both of them yelled at Jackie to get into the bedroom since it clear that Rose wouldn't leave the Doctor side. "Get in here!"

Frustrated Jackie slammed the door shut behind her and let Harry down onto the bed beside the Doctor. Mickey and Jackie slid a wardrobe in front of the door and leaned against it to keep it in place whilst the raging tree smashed against the door.

Meanwhile, Rose was by the Doctor's yelling, "Doctor, wake up!" Desperately she took Doctor's faithful tool, his sonic screwdriver, out of his leather jacket and she placed it into the Doctor's hand but he remained unconscious.

The wardrobe began to shake more intensely as the tree tried to get through, and finally gave way allowing it through. Mickey and Jackie were thrown backwards and Jackie coward against the wall squeaked, "I'm gonna get killed by a Christmas tree!"

Her eyes were scrunched together in fear, knowing she was going to die, but it didn't come. She squinted one eye open and gasped at the sight of a light yellow glow surrounding the murderous tree. She looked around the room in shock to see a light also surrounding Harry, who was glaring at the tree with such an intensity she was surprised it hadn't burst into flames.

Rose, after pulling herself out of the slight stupor caused by the sight before her leaned towards the Doctor and whispered into his ear, "Help me."

The Doctor bolted upright very suddenly and pointed the glowing blue head of his sonic screwdriver at the tree, which promptly exploded.

"Remote control. But who's controlling it?" Said the Doctor as he slowly lowered the sonic device.

The Doctor got out of bed threw on a dressing gown laid out at the bottom and picked up the still glaring Harry. "Good job kiddo." Which caused Harry to beam up at him.

He moved out onto the balcony and Rose, Jackie and Mickey followed him. On the ground below stood three metal Santas staring up at them.

Mickey started explaining to the Doctor, "That's them. They attacked us when we were out earlier, destroyed a corner. What are they?"

"Shush!" Rose exasperatedly hissed at Mickey.

The Doctor set Harry on the ground raised his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the Santa's, who backed away, standing closer to each other, then teleported themselves away.

"They've just gone!" Mickey joyously exclaimed. "What kind of rubbish were they? I mean, no offense, but they're not much cop if a sonic screwdriver's gonna scare them off."

"Pilot Fish." The Doctor said deadly serious.

"What?" Rose said aloud what they all were thinking.

"They were just Pilot Fish." The Doctor coughed harshly then collapsed backwards against the wall clearly in immense pain.

"What's wrong?!" Rose grabbed for the Doctor worried for him,

The Doctor was panting, struggling to get the words out. "You woke me up to soon. I'm still regenerating. I'm bursting with energy." He opened a mouth a little and some swirling yellow of the vortex escaped. "You see? The Pilot Fish could smell it. A million miles away. So they eliminate the defense - that's you lot - and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of year--" He groaned in agony and lurched forwards. "My head!" Jackie was kneeling before him, holding the Doctor up. "I'm having a neuron implosion. I need—"

"What do you need?" Jackie said frantically.

"I need—"

"Say it, tell me, tell me—"

"I need—"

"Painkillers?"

"I need—"

"Do you need aspirin?"

"I—"

"Codeine? Paracetamol? Oh, I dunno-- Pepto-Bismol?"

"I need—"

"Liquid paraffin. Vitamin C? Vitamin D? Vitamin E?"

"I need—"

"Is it food? Something simple? Uh-- a bowl of soup? A nice bowl of soup? Soup and a sandwich? Soup and a little ham sandwich?"

The Doctor finally got out, "I need you to shut up."

"Oh, he hasn't changed that much, has he?" Jackie complained.

The Doctor lurched forward again and leaned against the opposite wall for support panting, "We haven't got much time. If there's Pilot Fish, then—" He took an apple out of his dressing gown pocket. "Why's there an apple in my dressing gown?"

"Oh," Jackie apologized, "That's Howard, sorry."

"He keeps apples in his dressing gown?"

"He gets hungry."

The Doctor looked at the apple confused. "What, he gets hungry in his sleep?"

Harry grabbed the apple from the Doctor's hand and shoved as much as he could into his mouth, which granted wasn't much.

Jackie barely spared Harry a glance plucking the fruit from the child's hands and chucking over the side of the railing. "Sometimes." She shrugged.

The Doctor suddenly shouted with pain again and collapsed. "Brain—collapsing—" He grabbed Rose's upper arms and forced out, "P-- the Pilot Fish. The Pilot Fish mean... that something—something—" He took a few deep breaths. "Something's coming." And he collapsed into Rose's lap.

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"Jackie, I'm using the phone line. Is that alright?" Mickey plopped himself down at the kitchen table with his laptop in hand.

Jackie entered the room with two cups of tea in hand and set one down next to Mickey. "Yeah. Keep a count of it." Before looking to the clock and realizing, "It's midnight. Christmas day."

Rose then mopped into the room and set herself down on the arm of a chair and Jackie gave her the other cup of tea.

"Is there any change?" Jackie asked.

"He's worse. Just one heart beating."

Jackie plopped into one of the chairs and sighed. "Harry asleep?"

"Yeah. But he's restless and uncomfortable. He keeps waking up but he'll fall back to sleep soon enough."

Mickey spoke up from where he was working on the computer. "Here we go, Pilot Fish. Scavengers, like the Doctor said. Harmless - they're tiny, but the point is, the little fish swim alongside the big fish."

Rose moved over to look over Mickey's shoulder. "Do you mean like sharks?"

"Great big sharks. So, what the Doctor means is, we had them... now we get that." He pointed to where an animation of a shark on the screen snapped towards them.

"Something is coming..." Rose whispered before her attention was captured by a special report coming from the television.

"_Scientists in charge of Britain's mission to Mars have re-established contact with the Guinevere One space probe. They're expecting the first transmission from the planet's surface in the next few minutes."_

"_Yes, we are. We're - we're back on schedule. We've received the signal from Guinevere One. The Mars landing would seem to be an unqualified success." A scientist responded to the promptings of the news reporter._

"_But is it true that you completely lost contact earlier tonight?"_

"_Yes, we had a bit of a scare. Guinevere seemed to fall off the scope, but it - it was just a blip. Only disappeared for a few seconds. She's fine now, absolutely fine. We - we're getting the first pictures transmitted live any minute now. I'd better get back to it, thanks."_

The TV became covered in static before a blurry image appeared on the screen.

"Funny sort of rocks." Jackie commented.

Rose slowly edged towards the tellie, squinting at it. "That's not rocks..."

"... coming live from the depths of space on Christmas morning." The news reported announced as the image became clearer.

The skeletal brown face of an alien roared viciously at them from where the satellite was transmitting to Earth from space caused Mickey, Jackie and Rose to jump backwards from the television in shock.

Mickey ran over to his computer and started typing furiously trying to find some answers about what they just saw, ten minutes later he found some answers.

"Rose. Take a look, I've got access to the military. They're tracking a spaceship. It's big, it's fast, and it's coming this way." Rose rushed over to where Mickey was perched on the edge of his chair in front of his laptop. The Doctor had taught Mickey how to access military information a year ago while helping prevent the Slitheen family from destroying the Earth.

"Coming for what, though? The Doctor?" Rose inquired.

"I don't know. Maybe it's coming for all of us."

An image of four of the aliens appeared onto the screen and began to speak in an alien language.

"Have you seen them before?" Mickey never took his eyes off the screen.

"No." Rose shook her head. "I don't understand what they're saying. The Tardis translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am."

"So, why isn't it doing it now?"

"I don't know. It must be the Doctor. Like he's part of the circuit, and he's... he's broken." Rose was became upset and had to go look in on the man in question again.

Jackie had fallen asleep beside the Doctor, her head resting on a pillow she had placed next to him, and Harry was sleeping peacefully in his bed in the corner. Rose watched the three of them, leaning against the door frame when Mickey moved to stand next to her.

"The Doctor wouldn't do this. The old Doctor. The proper Doctor. He'd wake up. He'd save us." Rose's voice shook with unshed tears.

"You really love him, don't you?" Rose closed her eyes and sighed wrapping her arms around Mickey for comfort.

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The rest of the night passed calmly in the Tyler household, or as normal as a household could with a sick, face-changing alien passed out on the bed, a wizard child asleep in a crib, and a time traveler keeping watch over the both.

It wasn't until after the sun had risen on Christmas morning that Mickey and Rose, who had stayed awake throughout the night were alerted to trouble when the heard some one in obvious distress pleading with someone on the balcony outside of their flat.

Mickey and Rose poked their heads out the front door of Jackie's flat to see a man walking past with no expression on his face ignoring everything going on around him being followed by a young woman with long brown hair pleading with him, "What is wrong with you? Jason? Jason?"

"Sandra?" Rose asked taking a step out of the apartment.

"He won't listen! He's just walking, he won't stop walking!" Sandra was shocked staring after Jason.

Mickey and Rose followed Sandra and Jason to the roof of their building where they were joined by dozens of other inhabitants of the estate. The edge was lined with people in what seemed to be a trance staring blankly out at the horizon. Loved ones were trying to hold them back, trying to make them listen to their pleas for their safety.

"There's this sort of... light, thing, glowing around them. What's happening? Jason? Stop it!" Sandra pleaded.

Rose cautiously stepped forward, followed by Mickey, to look over the edge of the balcony to see on the ground below and on the edges of all the neighboring buildings there are tens of people hypnotized and with the same blue light occasionally glowing from around their heads.

"What do we do?" Mickey asked Rose looking to her for advice.

"Nothing. There's no-one to save us. Not anymore." Rose had given up.

Rose and Mickey returned to the flat feeling hopeless at the sight of so many people standing on the roof-tops of high building capable of jumping at any moment.

"Where 'ave you two been then?" Jackie inquired rather crossly as they entered the flat. She was making a big breakfast for everyone, trying to have as normal of a Christmas morning as they could.

"I suppose you haven't watched any of the news yet then?" Rose leaned up against the counter next to where her mother was cooking some bacon.

"No. I haven't. Its Christmas and I would like to have a normal morning at least. Why? What's happened now? Has the city been invaded or something?"

Rose sighed. "Might have been. There this strange blue light glowing around people who seem to be in a trance and they're all standing on the edges of roofs like their waiting for something. They're vacant and don't respond to anything. We're worried they're all gonna jump, and it's millions of people all over the world and no one knows anything, and the Doctor can't help us." Rose had become increasingly more distressed as her rant went on till her mother had to put down what she was doing and give Rose a hug.

"We just have to hope that everything will work out in the end."

The family moment was broken by Mickey yelling in from the other room. "Rose, Jackie get in here. You're gonna wanna see this."

Mickey was kneeling in front of the television watching Prime Minister Harriet Jones sitting at her desk, broadcasting her speech to the nation.

"Ladies and Gentlemen... if I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's speech, I'm afraid that's been canceled." She paused to look to the side asking a question to someone off-camera. "Did we ask about the royal family? " She turned her attention back to the camera and the matter at hand. "Oh. They're on the roof. But - Ladies and Gentlemen - this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say, it might get much worse. I would ask you all to remain calm. But I have one request: Doctor. If you're out there... we need you. I don't know what to do. But if you can hear me, Doctor..."

Rose was fighting back tears as she watched the leader of Great Britain plead for help she knew could never come.

"If anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him... the situation has never been more desperate. Help us. Please, Doctor. Help us."

Rose couldn't watch anymore and leaned against the door of the Doctors room, watching his unconscious form, sobbing, the tears flooding down her cheeks. Jackie walked up and took Rose in her arms as she continued to weep.

"He's gone. The Doctor's gone. He's left me, mum. He's left me, mum..." Her voice choked up with tears and pain as Rose began to sob even harder.

"It's all right... I'm sorry..." Jackie tried to sooth her daughter and placed a kiss on her forehead.

At that moment, the ground began to shake violently and the windows shattered inward showering the floor with glass.

They threw the doors to the flat open and ran outside to see what could have happened. Up and down the terrace people were doing the same. As they searched the sky's and horizon of central London they were witness to a huge spaceship floating into view, obscuring the sun.

Rose stared up at it for a second longer, before grabbing Mickey's arm and running back into the flat right into the room where the Doctor was sleeping.

"Mickey, we're gonna carry him." She threw the duvet off the Doctor. "Mum, get your stuff, and get some food. We're going."

"Well, where to?" Mickey asked as he moved to help Rose in her task.

"The Tardis. It's the only safe place on Earth."

"What're we gonna do in there?!" Jackie responded indignantly.

"Hide."

"Is that it?!" Jackie was angry that her daughter was just going to give up and hide away in an alien's spaceship.

"Mum -" Rose was angry now and was yelling back at her mother. "Look in the sky. There's a great, big, alien invasion and - I don't know what to do, alright? I've traveled with him, and I've seen all that stuff but when I'm stuck at home, I'm useless. Now, all we can do is run and hide, and I'm sorry. Now, move." Rose heaved the Doctor up grabbing hold of his shoulders while Mickey took his legs and began carrying the Time Lord out of the front door.

Jackie grudgingly followed them struggling with several shopping bags in hand and keeping an eye on Harry who was following next to her.

"Mum, will you just leave that stuff and give us a hand?"

"It's food! You said we need f—"

Jackie was cut off by the sight of the Doctor suddenly floating a few feet in the air relieving the pressure on Mickey and Rose.

"Wow." Mickey whispered in awe and took a step away from him.

"Haha!" Rose laughed excited and picked Harry up in joy. The Doctor suddenly dropped a few inches and Rose froze. "Sorry." squeaked, "Sorry. Mickey try holding onto the Doctor and moving him down the stairs. I'll keep Harry steady and move along behind you." She took a slow and purposeful step forward and the Doctor inched forward with her. Rose had the biggest grin on her face and asked back to her mother, "You okay back there?"

"Oh, fine. Just peachy." Jackie mumbled back and continued to struggle with the bags of food in her arms. "Never mind me I'll be fine on my own." Jackie hurriedly followed them down the rest of the stairs but paused and looked around the Tardis from the door before entering completely.

"No chance you could fly this thing?" Mickey looked over at Rose as he helped set the Doctor on the floor beside the Tardis' main console.

"Not anymore, no."

"Well, you did it before..."

"I know, but it's sort of been... wiped out of my head, like it's forbidden. Try that again and I think the Universe rips in half."

"Ah, better not, then."

"Maybe not."

So, what do we do? Just sit here?"

Rose became frustrated with the twenty questions coming from Mickey and responded sharply "That's as good as it gets."

Jackie set her bags on the ground and pulled out a thermal flask. "Right, here we go. Nice cup of tea."

"Hmm, the solution to everything..." Rose mocked her mother.

Mickey laughed, "Tea. Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British."

"Now, stop your moaning. I'll get the rest of the food."

"Mum." Rose stopped her mother from leaving as she approached her. "Come here. Does Harry feel a bit hot to you?"

Jackie placed the back of a hand on Harry's forehead. "You're right." She plucked Harry out of Rose's arms. "Why didn't you mention sooner? He probably shouldn't have been doing so much magic if he's sick." She went to sit down on the yellow plush chair. "Rose, will you grab my bag from the pile. There should be some medicine in there somewhere." She continued to examine the flush child while Rose dug through the bag pulling out anything that looked like it could be useful. Jackie muttered her thanks when Rose placed the small pile next to her.

"How does this thing work? It picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there. Maybe we've surrendered." Mickey called over to Rose from where he was standing next to the Tardis' monitor and began pressing a few buttons. "What do you do to it?"

"I dunno," Rose snapped him. "It sort of tunes itself." She pressed a few buttons like she thought she remembered the Doctor doing but nothing happened.

Mickey and Rose continued to poke around for a few moments before the console started to beep.

"Maybe it's a distress signal." Mickey stated hopefully

"Fat lot of good that's gonna do."

"Are you gonna be a misery all the time?" Mickey asked Rose quite seriously.

"Yes."

"You should look at it from my point of view - stuck in here with your mum's cooking. Oww."

Jackie had come over to the computer to look at what was beeping and got there in time to hear Mickey's comment, so she promptly slapped him upside the head.

"Do you know what's making the noise?"Jackie asked Rose.

"Not a clue. How's Harry?"

"He'll be fine, just a little under the weather. Now I'm starting to think you were right earlier about Harry being sick cause of the Doctor. We'll have to have a nice long chat with him about this when he wakes up."

"If he wakes up." Rose sighed. "We have no idea what's going on outside. I'm going to go have a look." She turned and started to march towards the door.

"What!?" Both Mickey and Jackie stared after Rose in shock.

"I am just going to step outside and see what's going on. I'm not going to go far." She was still looking back at Mickey and Jackie as she stepped out the door.

Jackie ran after Rose and stepped out right after her.

Mickey immediately heard both women scream and headed towards the door yelling as he moved to follow them, dropping the flask of tea he was holding onto the grilling of the Tardis floor. "Rose! Jackie?"

"Get off! Get off me!" He heard both Rose and Jackie struggling outside the door.

Mickey ran out of the Tardis doors staring around at their surroundings with amazement.

"The door!" Rose yelled back at Mickey, "Close the door!"

Mickey dashed over to the door and slammed it shut before he was grabbed by one of the vicious looking aliens, like skinless humans wearing helmets of bone and glowing red eyes. Many of the companions of said aliens yelled with glee and cheered.

Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, stumbled towards Rose and embraced her, terrified. "Rose! I've got you. My Lord. My precious thing. The Doctor... is he with you?"

"No." Rose's voice was shaking. "We're all on our own. Do you know what they are?"

"Apparently they call themselves the Sycorax. My assistant Alex here has an amazing device that can translate their language for us and they seem to want to use humans as slaves."

The Sycorax leader cut off their conversation and pointed at Rose addressing her angrily, which Alex the assistant translated into English. "The yellow girl. She has the clever blue box. Therefore, she speaks for your planet."

"But she can't." Harriet Jones argued to the alien leader.

"No she won't." Jackie stated at the same time.

"Yeah I can." Rose said quietly, not taking her eyes off the Sycorax leader.

"Don't you dare." Mickey ordered as best he could.

"Someone's gotta be the Doctor." Rose sounded like she was trying to convince herself of this just as much as the others.

Harriet grabbed at Rose's arm trying to prevent her from approaching the Sycorax. "They'll kill you. I've already seen them kill two others for approaching them."

Rose shook the Prime Minister off. "Never stopped him."

Rose took a few steps towards the Sycorax Leader and started to speak nervously very unsure of herself trying to think up the best bluff she could to save the world. "I, um... I address the Sycorax according to... article fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation. I command you to leave this world with all the authority of the Slitheen Parliament of Raxacoricofallapatorius, and um... the Gelth Confederacy..." Rose stumbled for a moment as the leader began to step towards her. "A - as uh... sanctioned... by the Mighty Jagrafess... and... Oh, the Daleks! Now, leave this planet in peace! In peace..." She was trying to be brave and forceful with her words but trailed off at the end in her uncertainty.

There was a few seconds of stunned silence before all the Sycorax burst out laughing and the Sycorax leader begins to speak again with Alex translating _"You are very, very funny. And now you're going to die."_

Harriet, Mickey and Jackie all lurched forward yelling, "No, Leave her alone!"

They were all restrained by the Sycorax as their leader continued to circle Rose, conversing with her.

_"Did you think you were clever with your stolen words?" _The Sycorax leader spoke passionately raising his arms towards the sky. _"We are the Sycorax. We astride the darkness."_ The leader hissed at Rose and Alex continued. "_Next to us you are but a wailing child. If you are the best your planet can offer as a champion..."_

But then the Sycorax leader himself continued. "Then your world will be gutted..." Only to be repeated by the translator. "... and your people enslaved."

"Hold on, that's English."Alex was confused.

"He's talking English." Harriet repeated.

"You're talking English." A small smile graced Rose's face.

"I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile!"

Rose pointed at the alien menace before her. "That's English." She turned to Harriet Jones, Mickey, Jackie and Alex. "Can you hear English?" They all nodded back at her.

"I speak only Sycoraxic!" The leader spat angrily.

"If I can hear English... then it's being translated. Which means it's working. Which means..." Rose turns slowly around to look at the Tardis. Mickey, Jackie and Harriet Jones follow suit.

The doors to the massive blue box opened and there, standing smiling in his striped pajamas and dressing gown, was the Doctor, holding a yawning Harry."Did you miss me?"

Rose smiled in delight.

The Sycorax leader roared in fury and lashed his whip at the Doctor, who caught the end and yanked it away from him.

"I am holding a child!" The Doctor shouted at the Leader "You will wait." He commanded.

The Sycorax Leader stared at him incredulously and the Doctor just pointed at him warningly.

"Jackie!" The Doctor was grinning like a madman. "You're looking good." He plopped Harry into her arms. "And so does Harry. Mickey! Hello!" Before moving on to the next person to catch his eye. "And Harriet Jones MP for Flydale North! Blimey, it's like 'This Is Your Life'!"

Finally he turned to Rose, beaming. "Tea! That's all I needed! A good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses..." He suddenly became more serious, lowering his voice. "Now... first thing's first... be honest. How do I look?"

"Um... different." She was startled by his actions which were so out of character for him and was confused as to what to say.

"Good different or bad different?"

"Just... different."

The Doctor face was devoid of emotion as he asked her, "Am I... ginger?"

"No," she looked at his head and gestured towards her hair, "You're just sort of brown."

The Doctor rolled his shoulders away from her and pouted. "Ah, I wanted to be ginger. I've never been ginger." Before he turned back towards her pointing vigorously. "And you, Rose Tyler, fat lot of good you were - you gave up on me-- oh, that's rude. That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude." Rose stared at him in shock. "Rude and not ginger."

"I'm sorry," Ms. Jones interrupted, "Who is this?"

"I'm the Doctor." As if it was supposed to be the most obvious thing in the world.

"He's the Doctor." Rose confirmed at the PM's skeptical look.

"But what happened to my Doctor? Or is it a title that's just passed on?"

The Doctor walked towards Harriet and told, "I'm him. I'm literally him. Same man, new face - well, new everything."

Harried Jones was really confused now. "But you can't be."

"Harriet Jones. We were trapped in Downing Street, and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens... wasn't the war... it was the thought of your mother being on her own." The Doctor stood right in front of the Prime Minister looking her in the eyes.

"Oh, my God."

The Doctor beamed at her for finally understanding that it was him. "Did you win the election?"

Harriet grinned quite pleased with herself. "Landslide majority."

"If I might interrupt!" The group of humans and the Time Lord spun around to face the leader of the Sycorax, having forgotten about him and the trouble they were in during their reunion.

"Yes! Sorry! Hello, big fella!"

"Who exactly are you?"

The Doctor grinned. "Well. That's the question."

"I demand to know who you are!"

"I Don't Know!" He yelled back before relaxing and starting to explain. "See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I - I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?" He looked towards Rose and winked cheekily at her, causing her to smile. "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed? Left-handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob. And how am I gonna react when I see this?"

He pointed to a large button and smiled insanely before running towards it laughing manically. "A great big threatening button. A-Great-Big-Threatening-Button-Which-Must-Not-Be-Pressed-Under-Any-Circumstances. Am I right? Let me guess, it's some sort of control matrix? Hmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?" He bent over and pulled a small panel off the side giving him access to the controls underneath the button, in the middle of which was a red sticky substance.

"And what've we got here? Blood?" He dipped a finger in and tasted it. "Yeah, definitely. Blood. Human blood. A Positive. With just a dash of iron." He wiggled his tung around as if trying to get the nasty taste out of his mouth and wiped the finger on his dressing gown. "Ahh. But that means... blood control-- blood control! Oh! I haven't seen blood control for years!" He looked positively delighted. "You're controlling all the A Positives!" The Sycorax seriously stern face falters slightly at the Doctors revelation.

"Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. 'Cause... I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So if I see a Great-Big-Threatening-Button-Which-Should-Never-Ever-Be-Pressed... then I just wanna do this." The Doctor smacked down on the glowing red orb as Rose and Harriet Jones yelled "No!"

"You killed them!" Jackie yelled complete shock on her face.

"What do you think, big fella?" The Doctor faced the Sycorax. "Are they dead?"

"We would allow them to live."

"Allow? You've no choice! I mean, that's all blood control is. Cheap bit of voodoo. Scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis - you can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis, you can't hypnotize them to death. Survival instinct's too strong."

"Blood control was just one form of conquest. I can summon the armada and take this world by force."

"Well, yeah, you could, yeah, you could do that - of course you could. But why? Look at these people." The Doctor gestured towards the people in the room. "These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into the sun. There is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than-- no, hold on..." He paused for a moment. "Sorry, that's 'The Lion King'. But the point still stands. Leave them alone!"

"Or what?" The Leader mocked.

"Or..." The Doctor grabbed a sword from one of the Sycorax guarding Rose and the others, hurried down the steps into the empty floor space in front of the Tardis and held it aloft into the air. "I challenge you."

The Sycorax Leader and the other Sycorax burst out laughing again.

"Oh, that struck a chord. Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?"

The Sycorax leader marched down the steps unsheathing his sword. "You stand as this world's champion."

The Doctor shrugged off his gown and tossed it over to Rose. "Thank-you. I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up. So - you accept my challenge? Or are you just a 'cranak pel casacree salvak'?"

The Sycorax Leader hissed at the Doctors insult and they both kneeled by their swords, preparing for battle.

"For the planet?" Said the Sycorax leader.

"For the planet." The Doctor answered.

The two warriors then ran at each other to begin their fight, blades clashing and clanging against each others. After a few seconds the Doctor was thrown aside and the Sycorax Leader laughed. The Doctor, however, straightened himself up began the fight anew.

"Look out!" Rose yelled, terrified for the safety of the Doctor.

"Oh, yeah, that helped. Wouldn't have thought of that otherwise, thanks." And maneuvered the battle up a flight of stairs. "Bit of fresh air?" He hit a button on the wall beside him causing a door beside it to open and leading the fight onto a platform on the outside of the spaceship. Rose, Mickey, Jackie holding Harry, Harriet Jones, Alex and a few of the Sycorax followed them out and continued to watch the swash-buckling.

The Sycorax leader caught the Doctor slightly on his nose causing him to stumble and groan with pain. Rose rushed forward but the Doctor raised a hand to stop her "Stay back! Invalidate the challenge and he wins the planet." He wiped some blood from his nose and reengaged the Leader causing them both grimace with the effort until the Doctor was knocked backwards to the ground.

Taking advantage of the situation the Leader slashed at the Doctor's wrist chopping his hand off up to the elbow and watches as it fell off the spaceship, sword and all.

"You cut my hand off." Said the Doctor looking rather stunned and annoyed.

"Ja! Sycorax!" The leader shouted triumphantly.

The Doctor got to his feet. "And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. 'Cause quite by chance... I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle. Which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy... to do this." He held up his stump of his arm and before their eyes it grew back in a swirl of flesh and yellow light.

"Witchcraft." The Leader spat shocked.

"Time Lord." The Doctor said proudly back.

"Doctor!" Rose stole one of the Sycorax's swords out of its sheath and tossed it towards him.

The Doctor turned grinning at her voice and caught it by the handle before spinning around with. "Oh, so I'm still the Doctor, then?"

"No arguments from me!" Rose smiled.

The Doctor turned back to the Leader with a grin. "Wanna know the best bit? This new hand... It's a fightin' hand!" and took of towards the Leader to continue their battle.

The Doctor managed to get a hit in jabbing the Leader hard in stomach with the handle of the sword, causing the onlookers wince, and the Leader to groan with pain. The Doctor repeated the move twice more making the Leader collapse to the ground and the Doctor pointed his sword at his enemy's throat.

"I win."

"Then kill me."

"I'll spare your life if you'll take this champion's command; leave this planet, and never return. What do you say?"

"Yes."

"Swear on the blood of your species." The Doctor spat.

"I swear."

"There we are, then! Thanks for that! Cheers, big fella!" The Doctor said pleased with himself for resolving yet another conflict without killing anyone disposed of his sword.

"Bravo!" Harriet Jones applauded their hero.

Rose rushed forwards to meet the Doctor. "That says it all. Bravo!"

"Yeah! Not bad for a man in his jim-jams!" Said the Doctor as Rose helped the Doctor put his robe back on.

"Very Arthur Dent. Now, there was a nice man. Hold on, what have I got in here? A satsuma. Ah, that friend of your mothers - he does like his snacks doesn't he? But doesn't that just sum up Christmas?" Rose giggled at the new Doctors antics as he grinned at her and they headed back towards the door to head home. "You go through all those presents and right at the end, tucked away at the bottom, there's always one stupid old satsuma. Who wants a satsuma?"

Behind them, the Leader maneuvered himself to his feet picked up his sword and prepared to charge at the Doctor. Without turning around, the Doctor whipped the satsuma at a switch on the side of the ship resulting in the ground beneath the Sycorax Leader to open and he tumbled towards the Earth.

"No second chances. I'm that sort of a man."

The Doctor reentered the ship and moved to address all the remaining Sycorax. "By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time. And when go you back to the stars and tell others of this planet... when you tell them of its riches - its people - its potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this: It - is - defended."

The Tardis, the Doctor, Rose, Harriet Jones, Mickey, Jackie, Harry and Alex were all teleported back down to the Earth below.

"Where are we?" Rose looked around trying to place herself.

"We're just off Bloxom Road. We're just round the corner, we did it!" Mickey laughed and jumped in glee.

The Doctor held out his hand as the spaceships engines stared up gesturing him to sit down and shut up. "Wait a minute... wait a minute..."

The ship turned and moved to leave the atmosphere.

Mickey whooped in glee and Rose jumped on his back waving an arm in the air.

"Yeah! Don't come back!" Rose yelled.

"It is defended!" Mickey continued to shout.

They laughed happily, and Rose jumped off his back to hugs him then ran up to a very surprised Alex, and threw her arms around him as well.

During the younger kids antics the Doctor approached Harriet Jones for a much needed conversation.

"My Doctor." Harriet Jones grinned happily giving the Doctor a hug..

"Prime Minister."

"Absolutely the same man."

The Doctors grin widened in acknowledgment.

"Are there many more out there?"

"Oh, not just Sycorax. Hundreds of species. Thousands of them. And the human race is drawing attention to itself. Every day you're sending out probes and messages and signals - this planet's so noisy. You're getting noticed... more and more. You'd better get used to it."

Rose had moved on to her mum and they were strongly embracing each other.

They release each other and Jackie rounded on the Doctor. "You! What happened, I don't understand?"

"You were right Jackie," The Doctor strolled towards her and bent over slightly to look her in the eye. "That all I needed was a good old cup o' tea."

"I said so!" Jackie was quite pleased with herself for getting something right.

"Come here, you." He opened his arms to Jackie who immediately responded in kind, and soon Rose and Mickey join in the group hug with Harry stuck in the middle due to the fact he was still in Jackie's arms.

"Let me out!" The little voice was heard yelling from beneath them, and the group laughing broke apart.

"Aww...! Are you better?" Jackie looked the Doctor up and down.

"I am, yeah!"

"And Harry?"

"That was my fault." The Doctor said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Harry's connected to the vortex through the Tardis, it gets a bit technical there - I'll see what I can do about that."

Jackie just continued to glare at him before rounding on Rose. "And what the hell were you thinking, just stepping out of the Tardis like that – not looking first!"

"I'm sorry!" Rose apologized weakly.

"And I followed you out there! I could have been killed. You could have been killed!"

The Doctor, Rose, Jackie and Mickey were distracted from their mock argument when a beam of green light shoot loudly up from the ground nearby and from another four points around the city. When the five points met at the retreating spaceship an extra burst of energy shot through the beams up into space blowing up the fleeing spaceship and killing all the Sycorax on board.

"What is that? What's happening?" Rose gasped.

Jackie's hand flew to cover over her mouth.

The Doctor looks angrily from the sky to Harriet Jones and spat at her, "That was murder."

"That was defense. It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago."

"But they were leaving." He yelled.

"You said yourself, Doctor. They'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today - Mr. Llewellyn and the Major. They were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case - we have to defend ourselves."

"Britain's Golden Age."

"It comes with a price."

"I gave them the wrong warning. I should have told them to run - as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming; the human race."

"Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf."

"Then I should have stopped you."

"What does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?"

The Doctor took a step towards her furious. "Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones. 'Cause I'm a completely new man. I could bring down your Government with a single word."

"You're the most remarkable man I've ever met. But I don't think you're quite capable of that."

"No, you're right. Not a single word." He looked her in the eye for a moment before adding, "Just six."

"I don't think so." She scoffed at the idea.

"Six words." The Doctor reiterated quite confident with himself.

"Stop it!"

"Six."

They had a staring contest with each other for a few more seconds, a battle of wills, when the Doctor ended it and strolled around her to approach Alex. He removed the other man's ear piece and whispered to him quietly, "Don't you think she looks tired?" Before turning and walking off, leaving Alex completely confused, and Harriet Jones alarmed.

The Doctor rejoined Rose, Jackie, Harry and Mickey again, and the four of them walk off down the street headed home to enjoy the rest of their holiday.

Meanwhile Harriet Jones rushed toward Alex and said urgently. "What did he say?"

"Oh, uh - nothing, really--"

"What did he say?!"

"I-- nothing! I don't know!"

Harriet yelled after the retreating Doctor. "Doctor! Doctor, what did you-- what was-- what did he say?! What did you say, Doctor? Doctor?!" After being ignored she calmed down slightly, and said with only herself to hear, "I'm sorry."

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

Jackie had continued with her usual Christmas plans and made a big dinner to celebrate being alive. They had cleaned up the apartment as best they could and sat down to have a proper meal, with Mickey starting to carve the turkey as they waited for the Doctor to arrive.

They finally heard the front door close and they all look back to see the Doctor in a dark brown pinstriped suit, and long brown jacket grinning at the sight of the odd family before him and taking a seat at the table.

He clapped his hand together and said, "So, what's for dinner."

"Well," Rose said thoughtfully. "There's meatloaf in the fridge if you want some." Her grin widened.

"Help yourself." Jackie said as she placed a plate in front of him. "There's plenty to go around. But I expect you to stay around for a few days and help clean this place up."

"Jackie..." The Doctor whined cutting off what Jackie was about to say.

"Yes you will. Looking at it you'd never know people actually lived here. And you almost died." She added as an afterthought. "You need to stay in one place for a few days to get your strength back."

The Doctor looked over to Rose for help only to pout as he saw she was nodding in agreement with her mother.

"And didn't you promise to spend some time with Harry?"

The Doctor's gaze slipped over to the little boy with a big bowl of mashed potatoes in front of him he was happily paying with.

"How is the kid anyways? I didn't ask earlier." He started piling food into his plate.

"Well he managed to float you down to the Tardis earlier. Really whipped him out though, but he did it." Mickey said between mouthfuls.

This piqued the Doctors interests. "Really?"

"Mmhmm." Jackie nodded. "He's been doing that recently. Not very often mind, only when he's scared or angry or really wants something."

"Really?" The Doctor drawled as he started to enjoy the meal as well. "What kinds of things?"

"Floating things most often. Scared me out of the mind the first time he did it, his teddy three feet off the floor and him a foot away from it in his crib reaching for it. Nearly gave me a heart attack. He'll somehow get the gate of his crib down and I still haven't managed to stop that yet. Small things."

"Hmm." The Doctor nodded.

"And he's talking already if you hadn't noticed in your delirium. A lot more than Rose was doing at his age, able to identify pictures in books."

"Yeah," Mickey laughed, "But you really shouldn't go by Rose now, should you." Earning him a slap on both shoulders from both Rose and Jackie.

"He'll be two on the 1st, if you wanted to know." The Doctor mentioned after a few minuted of silence as they enjoyed the meal.

"And you tell me now! I don't have time to plan a party! And the flats a mess! Oh your really sticking around now mister. This is your fault and now your gonna fix it."

Jackie was building herself up and the Doctor knew she had to stop her before she really started in on him so he reached over, placed a hand on her shoulder and said as if it were obvious, "Of course I'll help you. Why wouldn't I? The Sycorax wouldn't have attacked if I hadn't been here I owe you for keeping me safe while I was out of it. And," he said as an afterthought, "I should have more of an involvement in Harry's life. It's partially my fault he's here in the first place."

"You better." Jackie nodded at him. "I'll not have you just saying things and disappearing into the night. You'll help me, won't you Rose?"

"Oh course mum. I wouldn't miss it." Rose said the last part while looking the Doctor in the eye making sure he was listening to her.

"Oh yes," the Doctor muttered after her. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

The serious talk died down as they began to reminisce and tell stories, and drink a bit more wine with their dinner.

"Oh, that's yours..." The Doctor handed Rose a small party crown that he won out of a Christmas cracker.

"It's pink! Mum, it should be yours!"

"Pink! Lovely!" The Doctor laughed.

Rose happily put the hat on as if she were the queen on the party, and the Doctor smiled watched her.

Rose pointed to the television, "Look, it's Harriet Jones!"

They all spun to look at the television and the Doctor stood up putting a pair of thick, black, slightly geeky rimmed glasses on, looked sternly on at the television.

"_Prime Minister, is it true you are no longer fit to be in position?"_

"_No. Now, can we talk about other things?"_

"_Is it true you're unfit for office?"_

"_Look, there is nothing wrong with my health! I don't know where these stories are coming from! And a vote of no confidence... is completely unjustified"_

"_Are you going to resign?"_

"_On today of all days, I'm fine. Look at me, I'm fine. I look fine, I feel fine."_

The phone rang and Jackie answered it. "It's Beth. She says go and look outside."

"Why?" Rose asked.

"I dunno, just go outside and look. Come on, shift!"

The all obeyed and left to see what all the fuss was about now.

The Doctor and Rose stood side by side watching the street was filled with people laughing with delight as snow fell and what looked like meteors lighting up the sky.

"Oh, that's beautiful. What are they, meteors?"

"It's the spaceship breaking up in the atmosphere. This isn't snow, it's ash."

"Okay, not so beautiful." Rose laughed.

"This is a brand new planet Earth. No denying the existence of aliens now - everyone saw it. Everything's new."

"And what about you? What are you gonna do next?" Rose asked nervously.

"Well... back to the TARDIS... same old life."

"On-- on your own?"

"Why, don't you wanna come?"

"Well, yeah."

"Do you, though?"

"Yeah!"

"I just thought... 'cause I changed..."

"Yeah, I... I thought, 'cause you changed... you might not want me anymore."

"Oh, I'd love you to come!"

"Okay!"

The two laughed grinning at each other.

"You're never gonna stay, are you?" Mickey was staring at his feet as he asked Rose the question that had been nagging at him for months.

"There's just so much out there. So much to see... I've got to."

"Yeah." Mickey said understanding what she meant but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Well, I reckon you're mad. The pair of you. It's like you go looking for trouble." Jackie mocked them.

"Trouble's just the bits in-between!"

He put an arm around Jackie's shoulder and looks up towards the heavens. "It's all waiting out there, Jackie. It's brand new to me. All those planets... creatures and horizons... I haven't seem them yet! Not with these eyes..." He looked back at Rose. "And it is gonna be... fantastic." He held his hand out to her.

"That hand of yours still gives me the creeps." Rose said sheepishly.

The Doctor just grinned and wiggled his fingers playfully which she finally grabbed and moved closer to him.

"So, where're we gonna go first?"

"Um... that way." He pointed up to the night sky before saying, "No, hold on... that way." and pointing a smidgen to the right of his first point.

Rose pointed in the same direction. "That way?"

The Doctor looked for approval "Hmm?"

She nodded back. "Yeah. That way."

They smiled at each other for a few seconds and then gaze up at the night-sky, hand in hand only to be interrupted by Jackie saying stiffly.

"Your still going to be this way for the next week while my flat get fixed by that pretty new hand of yours, Doctor."

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

The Doctor did spend the next few days at the Tyler residence and was actually surprisingly helpful in its repair. This new Doctor was a lot more personable than his predecessor and they found him friendlier and easier to get along with. The gang was also shocked and delighted to find that his sonic screwdriver could actually work as a screwdriver.

Besides installing new doors into place and sonicing old trinkets together again he also spent a lot of time with Harry getting to know the boy like he should have done during the past few months. He was pleased to find that Harry was able to use his abilities instinctually and although he didn't have the knowledge to be fully in control over his abilities the potential for it was there.

Rose, Jackie, Mickey and Harry were standing outside the Tardis saying their goodbyes to Rose, who was bouncing with excitement at the prospect of getting back out into the universe and the adventures that followed.

"Any new instruction for dealing with the munchkin, Doctor?" Jackie asked the man who was leaning against the doors of the blue police box, waiting for the goodbye's to be said so they could depart.

The Doctor just shook his head and had a small grin on his lips. "Nah. I reckon your doing just fine." He took a step forward and placed a hand on the top of Harry's head from where he was standing around Jakcie's feet. "Bye kiddo. See you around. And don't go blowing anything up now, here me." Harry nodded grinning back up at the Doctor. He nodded his acknowledgment to Jackie and Mickey before turning and disappearing into his ship

"Have you got everything?" Jackie asked making sure Rose was prepared this time.

"I've got everything, don't worry."

"Be careful." Jackie and Rose embraced in a big hug.

"Okay, I'm going now. I love you!" Rose gave her mum a peck on the cheek, then turned to kiss Mickey goodbye.

"Love you." Mickey grinned at her.

"Bye."

She strolled over to the Tardis with a spring in her step and a smile on her face, glancing back at them grinning like a madman for one last goodbye before closing the doors behind her.

The Tardis began to dematerialize and Jackie turned to walk away asking Harry what he felt like for dinner.

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

_As usual a big thanks to Lalene Brooks for her betawork._

_Long chapter, I know, 14 pages at size 8 font. I had problems with it cause most of it was straight out of "The Christmas Invasion" By Russel T Davies,(and I referenced the scripts at who – transcripts . Atspace . com) and I felt stupid doing that, like I needed to change it to make it more my own. And then I know I have readers who don't watch the show so I had to make sure that it's understandable. Then there's the fact that yes, Harry is two and what the hell is he supposed to do. This is pretty much just filler till I can get Harry where I need him to be and I feel like I could just skip it, but I can't cause things need to built up and explained first, and the fact that writing is not my strong point. /end rant/_

_Ms. Audrey Moleca_

_p.s. did anyone notice, in the silent library, when the doctor was talking to the little girl through the t.v., that robbie the robot from the film, "the forbidden planet" was in the background. _

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O


	8. Intro 8 : Doomsday

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

The Doctors Apprentice

Chapter 8

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

"Come on kids, into the safe room." Ms. Casey urged the children she was responsible for, trying to hide the panic in her voice. Counting the heads to make sure all five of her students were in the reinforced steel room led them out of the way of the door into a corner to allow the next class through.

Torchwood had operatives in DayCare centers and schools across England who watched out for and informed their superiors when a singularly intelligent child was found. They than approached the parents and convinced them, sometimes needing to use the technology the main branch of their institution procured, to let them properly nurture their young ones to be the best and brightest they could be. Ms. Casey was a teacher for the Torchwood Academy for Gifted Children, primarily teaching toddlers just beginning their time at the illustrious school hidden from public view. The children she watched over had only been attending the school part-time for a few weeks now and were already settling in nicely.

After a few minutes of walking around and making sure all twenty of the students designated to this bunker were accounted for, a tall man with a bald head and a black suit stood in the center of the room. "May I have your attention please, thank you." In a somewhat naisily voice. "For those of you who are unaware, I am Mr. Landingham, Director of Early Education Programming. If you will please stay where you are and keep as quiet as possible we should receive word shortly that the situation is under control and you be allowed back to your regular classes." He retreated back to the secluded corner he had been hiding in and started whispering furiously into his phone once again.

"Bunch of good that news does us." Ms. Casey mumbled to herself and making sure her children were settled on napping mats went to speak with one of the other teachers who was sitting against a wall nearby nervously ringing her hands together. "Have they told you what's going on?" She whispered to Ms. Charles.

Ms. Charles shook her head slightly. "Not specifically, no." She whispered back, not wanting to disturb the quiet and wake the children. "I saw people die. The metal men, they just appeared, and anyone who fought back were killed. People are dying, and we're next, I know it, were going to die." She was steadily getting more hysterical with every word.

Ms. Casey wrapped an arm around her colleague, "Stop it. We don't want any of the children to overhear and start panicking, then we'll have a real dilemma on our hands. Now take some deep breaths and contain yourself. We are in a safety bunker. Those things are going to have a hell of a time getting in here if they try."

"They're the ghosts. There are billions of them all over the world. We don't stand a chance against them." Ms. Charles snapped back at Ms. Casey's attempt to quell some of her companions fears, however justified.

"Well freaking out isn't going to do us any good is it!" Ms. Casey whispered harshly back, giving up on trying to be strong and letting the fear show on her sharp, pale features. She stood up and marched over to where her children where napping and checked on them to make sure they were still all safe, unafraid, and unaware of what was going on outside their walls.

The room had been quiet for twenty minutes, with the people all finding themselves places to sit and worry. Some of the children had taken to playing small games as long as they kept quiet and didn't disturb the others in the room. Being children they really didn't listen to this rule and were doing what they liked.

A large portion of one wall began to move making all the adults in the room grab the nearest child and push them to the far side of the room afraid of what this opening wall could mean. They all sighed in relief and embarrassment when they saw all it was a large television that had been hidden from view.

It turned on automatically to reveal a suit of metal, with deep empty pits where eyes should have been, and a small rectangular whole where the mouth was glowed blue as the creature spoke to the world.

"This is CyberLeader One. The world will listen. Cybermen now occupy every land mass on this planet. But you need not fear. Cybermen will remove fear. Cybermen will remove sex and class and color and creed. You will become identical. You will become like us."

Some of the people in the room, children and adults alike began to cry at this announcement.

"A Cyberman will lead you to a designated upgrade center where you will be given a free upgrade to Human-Point-Two. If you resist you will be deleted. If you are incompatible you will be deleted. Resistance is futile." The screen went black and a screen saver of a rotating 'T' appeared, the wall remained open.

Mr. Landingham floundered around for a moment trying to regain control but people were too afraid, and no one was listening. "Please." He yelled, standing atop a chair. "Sit Down!" Some people obeyed and soon other people noticed and followed suit. "Thank you. We are in a reinforced steel bunker. We are safe. Soon the world's governments will have everything under control and you will be able to return to your families. Please stay calm. Until then how about a snack I believe one of these cabinets along the wall should have something. Mr. James, Mr. Oliver, would you mind taking care of that? Thank you." He stepped down off his chair and sat down removing a handkerchief from a pocket and wiping sweat from his brow.

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

It was half an hour before the video panel on one of the walls came to life again showing a man in his thirties with wild hair and deep brown eyes. "Hello, is this the Academy? This is headquarters requesting a status report."

"Yes. Yes." Mr. Landingham stepped forward. "Level 2 is present and accounted for. All safe. But have you gotten through to levels G and 4? I have been trying to contact them to no avail and I fear the worst may have happened."

"Sorry no, I haven't." The man on the screen leaned closer to the monitor. "But I need to know if you have a child named Harry Tyler with you. Its critical we know he's safe."

"Huh? What?" Mr. Landingham stuttered confused. They were all trapped here and the people who were supposed to save them were worrying over one little boy?

"Tyler. Harry. Tyler. Almost three. Shaggy black hair. Scar on his forehead. Kind of hard to miss." The man spoke down to him as if he were an idiot, which startled Mr. Landingham.

"Pardon me, sir, but what does a child have to do…"

The man cut off Mr. Landingham. "It is very important that I know Harry Tyler is safe. Cause if he isn't with you then I don't know where he is, and that means I have to abandon my efforts to stop the Cybermen and save him first, leaving the rest of you lot to die and I don't think any of you want that, hmm?" His eyes widened slightly.

"Um...Um..." Mr. Landingham glanced back to the people behind him who had all been awoken by the conversation and were all staring at him wondering what was going on. "Is there...hmm... Is there a Harry Tyler in the room?" He stammered looking out over all the staring, but still silent, people.

"Oh this is ridiculous. It's like trying to get an answer out of a Malnoreesian." The man on the screen mumbled to himself. "Would Harry Tyler Please Stand Up and Make a Lot of Noise if He is in the Room!" The man yelled.

"I'm here!" Harry jumped up from the far corner.

"Ah." The man had a huge grin on his face. "You okay then? All in one piece.?"

"Yup." With a big nod.

"Why didn't you say hello when I asked about you?"

"Auntie told me not to interrupt big peoples talking."

"And you listened to her?" - a nodded response. "Why would you do something like that? Mr. Landingham," The Doctor turned back to the man he had blown off. "How long can you survive in the safe room?"

"If no one comes? This many of us, I think we have three days worth of supplies. Will we be in here that long?"

"'I don't know." The Doctor rubbed his face in thought. "Hopefully the Cybermen won't be able to get in, but if they figure out someone's in there they might just blow it up to get rid of you." He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and said a bit more brightly. "But that's not gonna happen is it. I'm working on things on my end here and I hope to have matters cleared up soon. Just hold tight. And Harry," The Doctors face moved to look Harry in the eyes. "Whatever happens I'll be there soon to get you. Bye" The screen went back to its screen saver of a rotating 'T'.

Every face shifted to look at Harry, who just grinned slightly and waved "Hello."

"I have never seen that man before in my life. He was in the main office, where was Yvonne? Who is he and what is his position at Torchwood?" The last question was directed at Harry.

"He's the Doctor. He saves the world." Harry was still standing in the same spot looking up at Mr. Landingham.

"The Doctor? From the Charter?!" Mr. Landingham rushed forward pushing people aside to jump at Harry and grab the boy firmly by the shoulders. "Does he have a big blue box? Did he meet Queen Victoria in 1879? For Christs Sake boy, who is he?!"

"Mr. Landingham!" Ms. Casey yelled marching towards the man. "Unhand him at once. I don't know who he is or what's going on but Harry is still my responsibility and you are acting ridiculous."

Mr. Landingham looked shocked down at his hands and the look of fear on Harry's face, and slowly let go of the boy.

"Harry," Ms. Casey knelt down to Harry's level, "Did he hurt you? Are you okay?"

Harry nodded back, still keeping his eyes on Mr. Landingham, "Yeah."

Mr. Landingham stood strait and fixed his tie before turning back to Harry. "Mr. Tyler, I apologize for my behavior. But I really must have some answers, if you please."

The crowd around them started muttering. What was really so important about the man on the screen, and what did it matter?

Harry shrugged back to Mr. Landingham and looked down at his shoes. "He's the Doctor. He travels and helps people and stops the bad guys. Rose said she met the Queen and saved the world and was knighted Dame Rose and told to never come back to England."

"Oh my dear lord. The Doctor is here. During an invasion. The Doctor is here." A huge smile spread over his face. "Then there is nothing to worry about. If the Doctor is here then the metal men are as good as dead, wouldn't you say Harry?"

"Mr. Landingham," One of the teachers in the room stepped forward, a tall weedy man with bright red hair. "Would you please explain, what is going on. We are getting bits and pieces and leaving us with more questions than answers."

"The ghosts you stupid man. For the past two months, the ghosts that have been visiting the world have been a side effect to experiments the Torchwood Institute have been conducting. Torchwood is more than just a school for the gifted. You were just teachers and didn't need to know the truth. This is just a subsection of the real Torchwood. The institute as a whole was founded to investigate aliens and technologies to protect Britain from possible invasions and to keep Britain great. We have never been entirely sure what the ghosts were other than the fact they were harmless, so we continued the experiments. But they became real, they were those metal men and they are invading, killing people, and they are all over the world. The Doctor is the reason Torchwood was founded. In 1879 Queen Victoria met a man who called himself the Doctor at the Torchwood Estate in Scotland, where the Queen was said to have an encounter with an unnatural beast. He saved her and killed the beast, but because of his knowledge of the supernatural he was banished from Great Britain. Torchwood was founded in honor of the lord of the house who had died in the Queens protection to keep Britain safe and the Doctor off our shores. The Doctor is seen throughout the whole of history, wherever there is trouble, there he is, right in the middle of it."

"It can't be the same man." One of the teachers in the crowd spoke out. "That's impossible."

"Nothing is impossible with the Doctor. Isn't that right Harry?"

But Harry wasn't paying attention anymore. He had wandered over to where the door to the safe was and placed his hand on the cold hard steel. "There's someone out there."

A few of the adults in the room, including Ms. Casey and Mr. Landingham ran over to the door and spent a moment staring at it trying to determine how Harry could tell there was someone on the other side.

"You can feel it." Harry gestured towards his hand on the wall.

The four people standing around him placed their hands on the wall. Ms. Casey closed her eyes and concentrated. He eyes snapped open. "I can feel it. Banging." She closed her eyes again and pressed here ear against the metal.

"You wouldn't be able to hear anything through this you foolish woman." Mr. Landingham chided.

"Stuff it." She snarled back, before taking her head away. "I didn't hear anything."

Mr. Landingham gave a small snort of achievement before the television turned on to reveal the hallway on the other side of the door, and a group of five people banging against the doors begging to be let in.

"Please! Open the doors! They're after us! They're going to kill us if you don't open the doors!"

One of the others who had ran to the door reached for the release switch on the side of the door when Ms. Casey grabbed his hand to stop him.

"I'm sorry Greg. We can't open the doors." She choked out and there were tears forming in her eyes.

"They're going to die if we leave them out there!"

"Ms. Casey is right, Mr. Saunders. We don't know the conditions out there or if this is a trick to let the Cybermen in, we cannot open the doors until we have confirmation that it is safe."

There was a creak heard from the door and all heads snapped to see it opening, with Harry at the panel beside it.

Mr. Landingham pushed Harry out of the way to reclose the door but it was too late, the five people slid through the small gap that had been made. The few guns that were kept in the safe room snatched to attention at the intruders.

"What are you doing? Were human, not a bit of metal on us, are you daft?" One of the intruders gasped for air with both hands raised in the air.

"Delete. Delete."

Everyones attention snapped back around at the sound as a blue light whizzed through the gap in the door and hit the far wall. Mr. Landingham did what he should have done and recommenced the lock, but at the last moment another blue light just cleared the door and struck Mr. Landingham in the chest, killing him.

"Oh my god." The small crowd that had formed by the door took a few more steps back in fear.

There were a few blasts heard from the speakers on the TV that continued to show what was happening on the other side of the door, but all eyes on the entryway making sure the Cybermen's attempts were not succeeding.

There was a moment of silence as the bombardment stopped and people slowly built up the courage to look at the screen.

To see the face of a Cyberman dead center.

"You will open the door and be deleted."

"Subtle." Someone muttered. "No false sense of security there."

"Shut up." Someone else whispered.

The room completely silent as the twenty four people in the room didn't take their eyes off the television fearful of what their enemies were going to do next.

"Surround the room and commence maximum deletion." The Cyberman in charge commanded. Two of the metal men stayed at the door while others turned into adjacent rooms and more turned to leave the hallway.

"Oh shit." Followed by the dull thud of someone's head hitting the steel of the wall.

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

Mr. Landingham had been moved into an empty cabinet and wrapped in a spare blanket. The people in the safe room were huddled together in the middle of room with the smallest children in the middle and the teachers with the weapons circling them, keeping their eyes on the walls and any sign of them being breached. Everyone was nervous and on edge with their fingers a bit too close to the trigger for comfort.

"We're going to die, aren't we." Ms. Charles whispered at her gun. "There's no one to save us. The world has been over run by monsters and they're going to kill us all. It's only a matter of time. Either we run out of food, or water, or they get in here, either way we're done for."

"Stop that." Greg snapped at Ms. Charles. "There is always hope. I find it hard to believe that the whole world can be invaded and killed in the span of an hour with no hope of survival. I refuse to give in and so should you. Why don't you go into the bathroom and splash some water on you face, make yourself feel better."

Ms. Charles let her arms go slack a little and fall to her sides and stared at Greg blankly for a moment before nodding slowly. "Yeah. Sure. Water." She walked to the bathroom, just going through the motions, but all spark of life was gone from her eyes.

Not thirty seconds later a gunshot was heard coming from the bathroom followed by a thud on the floor. Greg ran towards the bathroom afraid that Ms. Charles had truly given up and taken her own life, but when he turned the corner to the bathroom he never got a chance to notice how wrong he was when blue light filled his vision, then nothing.

"Cybermen! They've got in!"

The children were pushed back towards the far corner and told to keep their eyes closed while the teachers fired in an attempt to do what they could to protect their lives.

But the guns didn't do any good. There were two shooters left trying to hold the attention of the Cybermen for as long as possible. They knew they were going to die but wanted to give the children they were protecting as long as possible with the hope that some miracle would happen, however unlikely. They were kneeling down on the floor, preparing to be deleted when the Cybermen froze in place for a fraction of a second before being thrown forcefully backwards out of the hole they had come through by some invisible force.

Ms. Casey, being one of the survivors, had to laugh slightly at the sight, and edged slowly towards the hole with her gun at the ready, peered outside to see a janitor's closet, devoid of Cybermen. "It's clear!" She yelled back.

The room was destroyed, and the bodies of eight of her colleagues and three children were on the ground. The only other surviving fighter was one of the men that got in when Mr. Landingham had died.

"I don't think we've ever been introduced to each other." She wiped some of the sweat from her hand on her skirt and held it out in greeting. "Catherine Casey, teacher extraordinaire."

He laughed a little and returned the handshake. "Michael Green. Mailman supreme."

"Pleased to meat you Michael. But I think we need to be getting these kids out of here. They don't need be kept in here seeing all this and we need to find out what's going on."

"I'll go make sure the way is clear."

Ms. Casey nodded and turned back to the children. "Kids, you can open your eyes now, but I want you to keep looking towards the ceiling, and whatever you do, don't look down."

Many of the children were openly crying and holding on to each other tightly but did as they were told and looked up. "Now I want all of you to hold the hand of the person next to you, and don't let go, and very slowly we are going to cross the room, okay. And don't look down. One step at a time okay. I'm right here with you."

Ms. Casey slowly led them across the room telling Mike to move the bodies out of their path and trying to prevent the children from seeing the death surrounding them.

"Where are we going now?" Catherine looked up to Mike.

"Um..." Mike looked around the empty hallway looking for an answer. "Probably towards the ground floor, and maybe a radio. I doubt television will be running, but there's a chance a radio station will still be transmitting."

"Right." Catherine nodded and turned back to the thirteen children huddled together. "You can look now." The children looked around at each other before meeting her eyes. "I want you to make a buddy line, with me at the font and Mike at the end." She looked up to Mike to make sure that the plan was okay with him. He nodded. "Come on. Straight line everyone, then take the hand of the person in front of you and behind you." Her voice was still shaking with fear and it was taking all her effort to stay strong for the kids.

It took a few minutes to get everyone situated but they eventually did.

"We need a marching song. Does anyone have any suggestions?"

There was a moment of silence, and Mike saw what Catherine was trying to do. Make the children concentrate on something light so they will be less likely notice any of the deceased that will probably be in their path. "Following the Leader."

"Okay then. Peter Pan it is."

"_Following the leader, the leader, the leader" _She started the song and the children quickly followed suit. After the first few lines she started leading them down the hallway towards the staircase.

"_We're following the leader wherever he may go  
We won't be home till morning, till morning  
We won't be home till morning  
Because he told us so  
Tee dum, tee dee  
A teedle ee do tee day  
We're out for fun  
And this is the game we play:  
Come on, join in  
And sing your troubles away  
With a teedle ee dum  
A teedle do tee day  
We're following the leader, the leader, the leader  
We're following the leader wherever he may go  
We won't be home till morning, till morning  
We won't be home till morning  
Because he told us so  
Tee dum, tee dee  
A teedle ee do tee day  
We march along and  
These are the words we say:  
Tee dum, tee dee,  
A teedle deelde deeay  
Oh, a teedle ee dum  
A teedle ee do tee day  
Oh, a teedle ee dum  
A teedle ee do tee day"_

They just finished the song when they reached the reception area at the front of the building. The front door was knocked in, but luckily there was no one, dead or alive, in the room.

"Alright everyone. Pile in here." She commanded. "We'll probably be here for a while so make yourselves comfortable."

"There's a radio." Mike picked a small black hand held device from the unmanned receptionist desk, and turned it on but all he got was static. He started playing with the dials and whooped with joy when he found a working station.

"...your homes. I repeat, stay in your homes. Stay off the phone lines, they are being reserved for emergency services. As soon as the police and the military are mobilized they will be making door to door sweeps of every building. If someone from your household is missing report it to them and they will do everything they can to reunite you. As far as I have been able to determine at this time, exactly five o'clock GMT a new alien emerged from Canary Wharf Tower, looking like giant pepper pots, and began attacking people and Cybermen alike. At twelve past five Cybermen around the world took to the skies and flew towards Canary Wharf right into the top floor along with the pots. At twenty passed the siege ended and the only trace left of the invasion was the death and destruction covering the globe. We have no word on how this happened, or what they were, nor do we have any estimates on the death toll, but I believe it to be in the millions worldwide."

The silence in the room was shattered when every head turned to the doorway as man came barging through what was left of the door at breakneck speed.

"Harry!" The man was yelling. He held onto the door jam and as he spun into the reception room.

"Doctor!" Harry yelled jumping off the couch running towards the man in question.

The Doctor knelt down and grabbed Harry into a rib-crushing hug before immediately pushing Harry out to arms length and making sure he was still in one piece, and upon confirming this recommenced the hug.

"Ouch." Harry said flatly but didn't fight the Doctor. When the Doctor did finally let up Harry looked around and asked, "Where's Rose." It was then Harry saw the tear streaks down the Doctors cheeks and more swelling in his eyes at the mention of his companion's name.

The Doctor sat cross-legged on the ground. "She's gone, Harry. She's alive, and okay, she's just somewhere I can't follow. And she's with Jackie." He placed his hands around Harry's waist and pulled him onto his lap. "Jackie won't be coming back, Harry. I'm so sorry. But she's with Pete, and Rose, and Mickey, and she is going to miss you so, so much." He whipped away some of the tears trickling down Harry's cheeks at the news that he had lost yet another family.

"But you're not alone Harry. You have me. And I'm not going to leave you." The Doctor hugged Harry again and looked up at the rest of the people in the room watching them. "Ah. Hello. I should really be going now." He picked Harry up and started backing away towards the door. "Thank you for keeping an eye on him for me, and I wish you the best of luck in the next few days." As he finished this, he turned the corner and hurried down the stairs and out of the building.

The survivors of that day's ordeal were too exhausted physically and emotionally to question what they just witnessed. They shut off the radio and sprawled out on the couches and floors to rest and recover.

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

The Doctor sat with Harry on the deck of the Tardis staring at the stationary engines trying to figure out what to do next.

"Can I go home?" Harry asked, with his head rested on the Doctor's chest.

"I guess we should get your stuff." But he didn't move. He couldn't go back to the Tyler apartment. It hurt too much. But then he saw Rose's jacket hanging across a poll and had to close his eyes. There were reminders of Rose everywhere in the Tardis too. "If I'm going to take you home I need you to let me up Harry."

The little boy whinnied but moved aside to let the Doctor get up to access the console.

There was none of the Doctor's usual life and excitement as he set the coordinates to the Powell Estate.

When he stepped out the doors he had to stop himself from turning back around. He had aimed to land in Harry's room, and he had, but he forgot that this had once been Rose's room and the reminders were still plainly visible, like the pink walls and some photographs still attached to the ceiling.

"Right Harry," The Doctor took a deep breath. "Lets get you stuff into the Tardis. We'll sort through it later." He started picking up everything in clumps and piled it all up right inside the door. He was so focused on his task, trying to forget, that he hadn't noticed Harry wander off.

Once the room was emptied and he did notice, the Doctor visibly cringed and yelled "Harry! Get back in here Harry!" But he got no response and had to leave the safety of the empty room to go find the child.

Not in Jackie's room across the hallway. There was a bucket of clean laundry on the bed waiting to be folded, and photographs of himself with Rose across the bureau. The Doctor slammed the door behind him trying to get out of there.

He found Harry in the living room sitting on a pile of photo albums and hugging Jackie's purse.

"Jackie will be back."

It dawned on the Doctor. Jackie never goes anywhere without her bag.

"I'm sorry Harry, but she won't." He took a step forward and tried to take it from Harry, but he wouldn't let go. He was holding onto it like a life line. "Take whatever you want into the Tardis." Harry pointed to the picture albums and the Doctor sighed. "Fine." He picked them up. "Fine."

When the Doctor returned to the living room Harry had moved to the couch. "Take this too."

"We're not taking the whole apartment with us." The Doctor had to laugh a little.

"It's comfier than yours."

"No."

Harry lied down and closed is eyes.

"No Harry. We don't need a couch."

"Yes we do." His eyes were still closed.

"No. We don't"

"Yes."

"No."

"I'm hungry." Harry's eyes snapped open.

The Doctor threw his hands in the air. "Is there food in the fridge?"

Harry nodded.

The Doctor turned into the kitchen and found leftover pasta in the fridge, but when he turned back to the living room he saw Harry was gone. Along with the couch. And the rest of the living room.

"You have got to be kidding me."

Back in the Tardis Harry was sitting on the couch swinging his feet looking quite pleased with himself.

"Happy?"

Harry just kept grinning.

The Doctor plopped down on the couch next to Harry and handed him the plastic container of cold pasta, which Harry frowned at.

"I don't know what to do Harry." Harry pried the top off the container and was eating with his fingers, but looked up at the Doctor when he started talking.

"I don't know what to do without Rose. She kept me going. She kept me sane. After the war I was going on autopilot, I was moving from day to day going through the motions of routine and Rose woke me up. She gave me a reason to live again. I can't go back to that. And now she's trapped in an alternate universe, and I can't get her back.

"And then there's you. Who do I know that can watch of a budding young wizard with a pension for stealing furniture. I can't leave you with Sarah Jane. She'd take you in a heartbeat if I asked her, but I couldn't do that to her, not after all I put her through. I could take you back to the eighties, but then we have the small problem of the time vortex. And the people still potentially out for your skin."

He swung around to lie down on the couch and rested his head in Harry's lap and his feet up over the armrest. Harry had to lift his container of pasta out of the way of the Doctors face, but continued to enjoy chowing down on it. The Doctors eyes were open but he didn't see Harry, he had retreated into his own mind.

"Do I keep you with me? What I am going to do with a child running around here? And this is no place for a child to be growing up. There too much potential for major trouble to be done. But then again, I've been on my own for so long now, it might be time to settle down. Be responsible for someone else." The Doctor's eyes came into focus on Harry, who had finished his meal and was watching the Doctor with curiosity as he ranted off his thoughts.

"A son. I could have a son again." He said with awe in his voice, then a little bit louder, "Wait a minute, a sun! That's it!" He jumped up and ran over to the console laughing and started flipping lever and gears. "If there's even a tiny, minuscule nanometer of a hole left I might be able to get a message through to Rose. Hah!"

Harry grinned watching the Doctor acting like his usual self again, smiling and excited. He slipped off the couch and over to the pile of his stuff next to the door and started rummaging through it looking for a toy to play with.

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

The Doctor found Rose standing on a deserted cold, windy beach.

"Where are you?" Rose asked.

"Inside the Tardis." The Doctor was translucent and his voice sounded distant. "There's one tiny little gap in the Universe left, just about to close. And it takes a lot of power to send this projection; I'm in orbit around a super nova." He laughed lightly and a smile graced his lips. "I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye."

Rose shook her head slightly. "You look like a ghost."

"Hold on..." The Doctor dug his sonic screwdriver out of his breast pocket and pointed it to the right, where he knew the Tardis' console was. The Doctors form solidified to where he looked like he might actually be there.

Rose held up a hand to touch his face. "Can I t--?"

"I'm still just an image. No touch." Regret hanging on every word.

"Can't you come through properly?"

"The whole thing would fracture. Two Universes would collapse."

"So?" She was only half joking and the Doctor could tell.

The Doctor took the moment to look around at the beach. "Where are we? Where did the gap come out?"

"We're in Norway."

"Norway. Right." He nodded like he meant to do that.

"About fifty miles out of Burgen. It's called 'Dårlig Ulv Stranden'."

"Dalek?" The Doctor eyes widened in surprise.

"Dårlig. It's Norwegian for 'bad'."

The Doctor kept staring at her, waiting for more.

"This translates as 'Bad Wolf Bay'." The name made them laugh slightly, it being the name Rose took when she absorbed the Time Vortex to save the Doctor so long ago.

"How long have we got?" Rose's voice started to break up with tears.

"About two minutes..."

"I can't think of what to say!" Rose laughed at the absurdity of that.

The Doctor laughed too, then glanced over at where Jackie, Pete and Mickey were waiting by the Jeep fifty yards away.

"You've still got Mr. Mickey, then?"

"There's five of us now. Mum, dad, Mickey... and the baby."

"You're not...?" The Doctor sounded so sad when he said it.

Rose just laughed at him. "No. It's mum."

The Doctor laughed with relief.

"She's three months gone. More Tylers on the way."

"And what about you? Are you...?"

"Yeah, I'm-- I'm back working in the shop."

"Oh, good for you." The Doctor nodded.

"Shut up. No, I'm not. There's still a Torchwood on this planet, it's open for business. I think I know a thing or two about aliens."

"Rose Tyler. Defender of the Earth." The Doctor beamed proudly.

"You're dead, officially, back home." He continued more soberly, "So many people died that day and you've gone missing. You're on a list of the dead." Rose began to cry quietly. "And here you are. Living a life day after day. The one adventure I can never have." He smiled softly at Rose who was sobbing openly now.

"Am I ever gonna see you again?"

"You can't." He whispered softly, as if it pained him to even say it.

"What're you gonna do?"

"Oh, I've got the TARDIS. Same old life. Last of the Time Lords."

"On your own?"

"I've got Harry. He's going to stay with me so you let Jackie know he'll be okay. And that he misses her."

"And you'll be okay with him?"

"Yeah." He was still watching her with compassion. "I think it might do me some good to have some real responsibilities for a while."

Rose couldn't take her eyes off his, hopelessly heartbroken, tears streaming down her face. "I lo--" She choked with tears before she could finish her sentence and took a moment to regain her composure. "I love you." Another shuddering sob escaped her.

The Doctor kept his eyes lock on her with heart-rending tenderness and devotion. "Quite right, too." He whispered softly. "And I suppose... if it's one last chance to say it..." He paused for a moment. "Rose Tyler..."

But he faded away into nothingness and Rose was left alone, sobbing into her hands.

The Doctor was back in the Tardis, eyes filled with tears spilling down his cheeks, his mouth already open to form the words he never got to say. He swallowed hard, closing his eyes with a heavy heart. "I love you." He whispered.

The Doctor rubbed his hands over his eyes wiping away the tears and took a deep breath before turning his attention to the Tardis console, pushing the buttons and levers as he walks slowly around it without any of his former enthusiasm.

"Where to now Harry?" He asked softly looking up to the little boy watching from the couch.

Harry put a small smile on his face and said, "Anywhere."

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

_A/n_

_Big thanks to Lalene Brooks for proofreading this thing._

_Doomsday, S02E13 by Russell T Davies._

"_Following the Leader" is from "Peter Pan", in case you didn't know._

_I would think that a Torchwood run school would be anal enough to have a safe room, just in case. Don't argue with me on this case._

_And yes depressing chapter, but could it be anything else and still be Doomsday?_

_Reviews? Comments? I'd love to hear your opinion._

_Ms. Audrey Moleca_

_Ps. A small rant._

_Saturday last, while at work, a young lady came into the shop I work at with who I later found out was her husband and parent in-laws. As she stayed behind to pay for their purchases I noticed her T-shirt said 'HP/DM' Now I'm sure, being where we are, you can figure out the first thing that probably popped into my head, but just to make sure there isn't something else it could mean I asked. To which she responded, 'oh, it's a harry potter thing.' I nodded and we had a small conversation about the fandoms, but the thing that stuck were her parting words to me as she left were 'I just hope the in-laws don't find out what it means.' _


	9. Chapter 1 : Hogwarts

_This chapter has not yet been beta'd._

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The Doctor's Apprentice

Chapter 9

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"So this is goodbye then." The Doctor stood on the beach of a dark lake gazing at the universe spiraling above their heads, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his long brown trench coat.

"I guess so, yeah." The young man standing next to him rocked on his feet, taking in the view across the rippling waters of the lake at the majestic castle atop a small mountain.

"You have everything?" The Doctor spared a glance at his companion out of the corner of an eye.

"I think so, but I'll give you a call if it's something important." He shuffled his weight back and forth a few times looking off into the distance. "I think I hear them coming, I should probably get going."

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded. After a few moments of silence he turned to face his son, placing his hand on the others shoulders. "Your as prepared for this as your ever going to be kiddo, there's nothing you need to worry about."

"Right. Yes. I know." He paused his nodding momentarily to look back across the lake and gulped comically making the Doctor laugh.

"You'll be fine. You can save the world with no problems at all but put you in a room filled with kids your own age you freak out. Everyone in your class is going to be new and be just as afraid as..."

"I'm not afraid, I don't get afraid." The Doctor was cut off mid sentence making him roll his eyes.

"Fine. Just as nervous, jittery, whatever you are. You're eleven, you're all" He waved a hand looking for the best word, "Awkward."

"Thanks for that, Dad. Real helpful. Your sure the Brigadier's got the school list right? I don't want to show up and and find out I've missed something completely. Or that I'm not really a student there."

"It. Will. Be. Fine. Alastair's got agents that keep an eye on things here. You, their hero, have been missing for ten years, and they're all praying your kidnappers will let you attend the finest school they have to offer. Now thats enough stalling, it's time you got going."

The boy nodded and looked towards a little ways down the beach where twelve small boats could barely be seen under the light of the stars, swaying with the waves. "You'll pick me up in June right? You'll get the date right?"

The Doctor ruffled his son's hair fondly. "Yeah. I'll be there." The Doctor held his arms open to embrace his son. "Good luck Harry."

Harry nodded and started making his way along the shadows of the tree line towards the boats.

He could hear the whir of the Tardis engines through the trees signaling the Doctor's departure and couldn't help but feel a pang of loss knowing that the Tardis was leaving him behind, though he could still feel his connection with the miraculous ship in the back of his mind.

The voices approaching became louder as Harry traipsed along the dark path leading to the town, especially a deep loud voice boom out,

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' 'Ogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend 'ere".

A light bobbed into view a few yards away, seeming to float about nine feet in the air spurring Harry to step back a little farther behind some bushes to keep from being seen as a crowd of people came streaming past. As soon as the last child stumbled by Harry left the safety of the shadows to follow behind.

"No more'n four to a boat!" A near eight-foot tall behemoth of a man with a face masked by a large bushy beard yelled out after leading the group to the line of boats. Harry quickly climbed aboard the nearest one.

"Right then – Forward!" The small fleet of boats all pushed off on their own, all the same time, starting their journey across the lake.

Harry kept quiet as he silently examined the students that were to be his classmates for the next seven years. They all looked so small and meek and afraid, he hoped to whatever higher being that may be watching that he didn't look like that.

"Heads down!" Yelled the gruffy-man as they approached the cliff and were carried through a curtain of ivy into an underground harbor where the little boats docked themselves. He led them up a small passageway carved from the rocks and out on to the damp grass under the shadow of of the castle. In front of two gigantic iron doors stood a tall woman dressed in a flowing black cloak.

"The firs' years, Proffessor McGonagall." Their guide pronounced with a sense of pride.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

Proffessor McGonagall eyes roved over all the student standing rigid with fear in front of her for a few moments, before frowning slightly and finished pulling the doors the rest of the way open to reveal an enormous entrance hall with stone walls rising till Harry could barely see the ceiling. It was lit with torches and there was a full marble staircase leading towards the upper floors. The Professor led them across the hall past a set of large double doors with hundreds of voices escaping from behind and into a small empty chamber.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While you are here your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule breaking and you will loose points. At the end of the year, the houses with the most points is awarded the house cup. Now take a moment to smarten yourselves up. I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly."

Harry started walking around the room trying to take in as much as he could. The stone was old and worn and chipped but well cleaned. There were no paintings on these walls, just more torches wreathed in flame. The newest students of the school were all nervous huddled together in the center of the room for the protection from the unknown, even those who were trying to act tough were standing a bit closer to their companions than normal.

Suddenly several people screamed making Harry spin around to see what the commotion was and his face split into a huge grin. About twenty transparent pearly white ghosts had streamed through the back wall deep in their own conversation. Most continued on their journey passing through the far wall without noticing them.

"Now, form a line, and follow me." Professor McGonagall had returned and let group out of the chamber and into the Great Hall. It was magnificent, lit by thousands of candles floating above the four long tables that lined the room and the hundreds of students sitting at them. Harry glanced upwards and saw that instead of a ceiling it was the nights sky. 'I need to get me one of those.' Harry thought to himself, but he had to look forward again to stay in line.

At the front of the hall was another long table where the teachers were all sitting. In front of them was a four-legged stool on top of which sat a tattered old wizards hat. Everyone's eyes were fixed on it and the hall descended into complete silence. The hat twitched before a rip near the bottom opened like a mouth and it began to sing.

"_Oh you may not think me pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuff's are true  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

The hall burst into applause as the hat finished and it bowed to all five tables before becoming still and quite again.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." Professor McGonagall stepped forward unfurling a long roll of parchment. She started calling out people's names one by one, who were instructed to sit on the chair as the hat was placed on their heads, and after a few moments it would call out one of the four houses.

The list went on and Harry began to feel more and more nervous as they approached his name. He was different, what if the hat couldn't sort him? What if it found out all his secrets and told someone? There were so many what ifs bouncing around his head he almost missed when the Professor shouted, "Potter, Harry."

Whispers broke out all over the hall and he saw many of the professors sit up straighter looking over the remaining crowd for any sign of movement.

"Potter, did she say?"

"Here? He can't be?"

He stepped forward keeping his eyes on the hat so he didn't see most of the students mouths drop in surprise and the teachers eye him with interest. The hat dropped over his head submerging him in darkness and felt a tickling sensation in the back of his head increase tenfold. He tried to throw the presence out but instead he heard the voice of a old man clear as day talking to him.

"_Don't worry Mr. Potter, I won't share these secrets with anyone. Oh, these are quite entertaining. I've never seen anything like this before. It was getting so boring, year in year out. Children so rarely have anything of particular interest floating around, but you... oh... the next seven years will be fun to watch."_

"If you don't mind me asking, who are you?" Harry whispered hoping the hat could hear.

"_There's no need to speak, just think it and I'll hear. And weren't you listening before, I'm the Sorting Hat. Created by the founders of this school to decide where the new students will grow and flourish best."_

" _I really don't like anything other than me floating around up here, so if you don't mind, could we hurry this up?"_

"_You've got a connection to one of the most powerful beings in the universe permanently floating around up here and your complaining about me?"_ The hat said flatly."_ Your the one asking the questions young master, but if you insist..."_ He felt the presence move slightly. _"Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes – cunning - I suppose you'd have to be to have survived thing long. You'd do well in any of the houses, but I think you'd overwhelm the Puffs and drive them mad within the week. Same with the Claws. Your brilliant but you question everything and need to experience it for yourself rather than taking the words of books as truth. So Slytherin or Gryffindor. Hmm. Decisions decisions. You'd probably do the other Slytherins a world of good, but. you've seen enough death and destruction in your life, and there's a lot more to come. You need to experience more humor and companionship, so better be –_ Gryffindor!"

Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked relieved towards the Gryffindor table. He trusted the hat would keep his secrets. It was hard to think over the tremendous cheers and applause coming from all the tables. Some people stood up to shake his hand while some even started dancing in celebration.

"Please, Please! Quiet!" A tall this man with a long gray beard tucked into the belt of his extravagant brightly colored robed stood from his perch at the center of the head table proclaimed gaining the attention of all the students. "Thank you. As pleased as we all are seeing Mr. Potter here, we still have a sorting to finish so if you would please take your seats..." He let the sentence hang as many of the students blushed with embarrassment but all returned to their seats. "Thank you. Professor you may continue."

The sorting continued relatively uneventfully till the final name (Zambini, Blaise – Slytherin) was called and Professors McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. Harry's feet were bouncing as he tried to ignore all the stares he was getting from everyone in the hall.

The old man again stood beaming in front of the students, his arms open wide in greeting. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin out banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" He sat back down as everyone clapped and cheered.

Harry joined in the cheering as well when the dishes in front of him filled with piles and piles of food and began to dig in.

"That does look good."

Harry looked up to see a ghost watching him cut up his steak."Are there no psychic impressions left by cows?"

The ghost smiled a little. "No, I'm afraid I've never heard of that happening. I haven't eaten in four hundred years, and even though I don't require food, I do miss it. Oh, I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" said another first-year, a red headed boy named Ron who was sitting next to Harry, who momentarily pausing shoveling as much food as he could onto is plate. "My brothers told me about you – you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-" Sir Nicholas stated stiffly, but sandy-haired boy interrupted.

"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?" Said another student who was sitting across from him.

Nearly Headless Nick looked frustrated at the questions. "Like this," he said irritable. He grabbed his left ears and pulled, his head fell off his neck and dangled around his shoulder as if on a hinge. Sir Nicholas looked completely pleased with himself at the stunned looks on his audiences face as he swung his head back onto his shoulders. But it was not to last. Nicholas became frustrated again when Harry stood up and peered closely at his neck.

"Can you take your head off again?" When he didn't Harry tried blowing at it to see if he could affect the ghost in some way but proved successful only in annoying the Sir Nicholas even more.

"And why would I want to do that?" He spoke very precise, trying to contain himself.

Harry glanced up to meet Sir Nick in the eye. "I want to see if the psychic energy becomes so entwined with the corporeal body that it even manages to accurately represent what your innards should look like." He looked back at Nicks neck. "Come on. Knock it over. Just a little."

Sir Nicholas wafted backwards a few feet, his eyes wide with shock. He coughed slightly and decided the best course of action would be to ignore Harry completely. "Ah, So – new Gryffindors! I hope your going to help us win the House Championship this year?" He eyed Harry again momentarily. "If you'll excuse me, I need to have a conversation with the Gray Lady, thats the Ravenclaw ghost. I wish you all the best over the next seven years."

Harry started hearing applause and looked around two identical tall burley redheads clapping on either side of him.

"That was brilliant." Said the one on the right.

"I have -never- seen Nick that frazzled." Said the one on the left.

"Wanting to take a look at his neck,"

"Disgusting but brilliant, I must say."

"Gred Weasley, at your service."

"And Forge Weasley, pranksters supreme here at Hogwarts."

"But you, Mr. Potter, take the biscuit."

"And we must ask, given the unique opportunity granted to us here today,"

"The question that has been on the tips of the tongues of every person in this hall since you stepped forward to claim your title as the one, the only,"

"Boy-who-lived-only-to-disappear. Where did you disappear to?"

"Ahh..." Harry took a step back from the confusion that bombarded him to fall back into his seat. "I'm a bit hungry if you don't mind, and would like to finish my dinner before the meal ends. Do you think we could have this conversation some other time?"

"Fine. I can take a hint." Forge waved his hand in a dismissing manner.

"Brother mine, I think its time we went to find some company that would actually appreciate us."

"Too right. So long, no-longer-missing Mister Potter."

"Till we meet again."

The two spun around with a flush and trotted off down the table towards where a small group of people were watching laughing.

Harry stared after them for a moment before returning to his meal in silence. The people sitting around him followed his queue and continued with eating. Harry listened in on the conversations going on around him but didn't actively join in till after dessert had been served and the talk turned to the topic of their families.

"I'm half and half," said the blond boy, who he found out was named Seamus Finnigan. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mam didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him." Garnering laughter from all those listening.

"Full-blooded as far back as we know." The boy sitting beside him – Ron Weasley added, shrugging.

"Were those your brothers, who blindsided me earlier?" asked Harry.

"Yeah." Ron frowned. "There always doing stuff like that. They always have to be in the middle of everything or else the event wasn't worth having, according to them."

"Do you have any other brothers, or is it just the three of you." Ron snorted at Harry's question.

"Three, nah. Theres seven of us. Bill's a curse breaker in Egypt. Charlie works with dragons in Romania, Percy's the prat down the table trying to tell off Fred and George and Ginny's not old enough for Hogwarts yet. Right annoying it is. Anything I do doesn't matter cause one of them did it first. Head boy, Quidditch Captain, Class Clowns."

"Wow." Harry nodded in appreciation. "I wish I had a brother, or some one at least slightly close to my own age to hang out with, or help me deal with the insanity that is my dad."

A girl with bushy brown hair from across the table interrupted them. "I thought your father was killed. At least thats what I read in _Modern Magical History _and_ Fall of the Dark Arts _and_ Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."_

Harry stared at the girl across the table in shock, opening and closing his mouth a few times before he found the right words. "My biological father was, but my dad is the guy who raised me. There's a difference."

"Oh. Right, sorry. Its just nobody in my family's magic at all, and it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but then I realized I was so far behind not knowing any wizarding history at all so I got a few extra books for background reading and I wasn't sure if I had missed something, there was so much to learn, I've learned all our set books by heart even, I just hope it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger by the way."

She said this all very fast, and Harry didn't think he could detect any breaths taken throughout that entire rant leaving him somewhat in shock. He looked over at Ron to see him also flummoxed by the rant they had just been privy to. He tried to ask her if she was a certified speed talker but never got the question out because she stood saying, "Ooh, that prefects free, Percy I think his name it, I want to ask him a few question." And disappeared down the table.

"She's insane." Ron managed to get out, his eyes wide looking after her. Harry could only nod in agreement.

"Have you learned much magic yet, growing up with it must help." Harry asked Ron.

"I guess so yeah. Just basic stuff, but that doesn't mean I could actually do it. How about you?"

The Doctor did attempt to teach him at least a little about his abilities over the years, especially control – it wouldn't do to accidentally let loose a burst of psychic energy on a space ship and wipe out all its electrical systems. With the various advice from 'experts' spanning across the universe Harry did manage to eventually harness his abilities to a certain extent, he could let it loose when he wanted to kill a particular piece of equipment, but usually kept his magic locked up tight. With his control came a small bit of ability to use wandless magic, not really recommended for someone his age and without formal training to do, but nonetheless he could do it.

"No. Dad knew wizards existed but he isn't one. He's absolutely useless when it comes to magic." Harry said, not necessarily true, but not a complete lie either.

"You were raised by muggles?" Ron asked astounded, more people at their end of the table were paying attention to the conversation, trying to gleam as much information as possible about their long-lost hero.

"Well, I wouldn't say muggle, per-say, but he's can't do magic as you know it."

Their attention was brought to he Head Table and Professor Dumbledore when he stood and called the hall to attention. "Ahem – just a few more words now we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First-years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." He looked directly at the Weasley twins as he said this, who looked at each other mouthing 'Who us?' "I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

This last line peaked Harry's curiosity. Why would risk leaving something that serious in a school filled with rebellious miscreants looking for seemingly insignificant rules to break – himself included. He would need to visit the third floor as soon as possible.

"And now," Dumbledore continued, "Before we go to bed , let us sing the school song!"

Harry's mouth dropped. A school song, and the coot expected the self conscious teenagers in this hall to sing with him. Just how old was the headmaster Harry had to ask himself. But he was wrong. Dumbledore had the words magically scrolling around the room and everyone had joined in, all going at their own speed and to their own tune. Harry laughed and eventually joined in putting it to the tune of one of the most popular songs of the eightieth century of the planet Moreen. It wasn't like anyone could hear it over the cacophony.

"Ah, music," Dumbledore said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

After it ended Dumbledore dismissed the hall and the first years were told to wait behind while the room cleared more, then follow Percy the Prefect along many long corridors lined with portraits of people that moved and through doorways hidden behind tapestries. It felt like miles of the most convoluted maze Harry had ever seen when they finally stopped in front of a portrait of a very fat woman in a frilly pink silk dress.

"Password?" She said.

"Dragons head." Harry heard Percy say, and the portrait swung open to reveal the archway into the Gryffindor common room. Harry tried to discreetly hit the back of his head. He could tell when the Tardis was translating something. Every once in a while the Tardis would think it funny to translate words not meant to be translated, especially when he was trying to learn a new language. But he didn't think it would be funny when he kept telling the fat lady 'dragons head' instead of whatever it was originally supposed to be and not be allowed in.

Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. After climbing to the top of a spiral staircase they found their room with five four-posters hung with red velvet curtains with trunks at the foot.

"Sleep." Dean Thomas threw himself onto the bed next to his trunk.

"Merciful sleep." Seamus Finnigan fell into his.

"Oh come on." Harry complained. "Its our first night here, don't tell me your all going to waste it on sleep."

"Sorry mate, but as much as I want to harass you asking a boat load of question, I'm just too knackered. It'll have to wait till morning. 'Night" Ron pulled off his school robe and got into bed, not even bothering to change into night clothes.

Harry looked to Neville, the only one not to have immediately falling asleep. He was rummaging through his trunk mumbling about forgetting his stuffed dragon.

"What about you Nev, up for looking around the castle?"

"Ahh... Sorry no." Neville mumbled, barely glancing over his shoulder. "I think I better turn in as well. Have to get up early you know." He shrugged and climbed into bed himself. "Goodnight though." He pulled his the curtains around his bed closed.

"Fine then. I'll just have to get lost on my own then."

Harry snuck back down the staircase and peered round the corner to see everyone had already gone to bed. He slipped out the entryway slowly making sure he didn't wake the portrait up. He pulled a small piece of paper and a pencil on his pocket and made a small notation on it. "I will find my way back here before sunrise if its the last thing I do."

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"Headmaster, are you positive it is safe allowing Potter into the castle. If you were unsuccessful finding him who knows what dark magic was used to keep him hidden." Professor Snape snapped once all the Heads of House were gathered in the Headmasters office.

"I am positive, Severus." Headmaster Dumbledore replied calmly, sitting behind his ornate desk, glancing over some parchments that had appeared on his desk while he was away. "The Sorting Hat would have alerted me if there were anything serious to worry about. Correct Hat?"

The four Heads turned as one to face the tattered black hat resting on a high golden shelf to the side of the office. On queue its tip perked up and it came to life.

"Of course Headmaster. The boys not out hurt anyone." He waved the question off with its tip like it was silly to even ask. It then slumped back into its sleep waiting for its services to be called on again, but made the headmaster cock his eyebrow when he heard the hat mumble under his breath, "Not on purpose anyways."

"I don't trust it, or the boy." Snape drawled harshly. "He could have tricked the hat. Riddle did. You should have requested a meeting with him after the feast. A lot of resources went into looking for the boy and we deserve to know where he was. He should be made to pay for the trouble he put us through."

"Severus," Diminutive Professor Flitwick began, but Dumbledore held up a hand to silence him.

"It would do no good to interrogate a tired child the night he has been returned to us. I shall ask him for a meeting later." Dumbledore looked Snape in the eye and added almost whimsically, "And are you suggesting we punish Mr. Potter for his kidnapping? I would think he is the least at fault here."

Professor Snape shifted slightly under Dumbledore's stare, but nodded letting the matter pass.

"Is there anything else?" Dumbledore opened the conversation up to the rest of the group.

Professor Sprout spoke up, "He looked healthy, well taken care of at first glance."

"And he seemed to get along with the other first years normally, besides the incident with Nicholas in any case." Professor McGonagall continued.

Professor Flitwick nodded happily, "But that just looked like curiosity. Mr. Potter clearly should have been sorted into my house. As a matter of fact I never thought of the matter – Do ghosts actually retain the imprints of bones and blood vessels? I will have to ask him the next time I see him."

Professor McGonagall laughed slightly. "And freak Nicholas out even more, I'd like to see that."

Professor Dumbledore coughed slightly to bring the audience back to the matter at hand. "Mr. Potter never received his invitation, in fact the owls that were sent with his letter never left the grounds. He was not seen at Kings Cross nor did he get off the train at Hogsmead. His luggage was not brought up to the castle on the initial trip from the train but after the sorting his trunk was sorted like any other. Hogwarts wards say Mr. Potter arrived at the castle with the rest of the students. Comments, observations, anything I missed?" The Headmaster steepled his fingers together and peered over the top of his half moon specticals at each of his professors.

They all remained quiet, thinking about what was said, watching Professor Dumbledore in return, waiting for him to tell them what he made off situation.

"He must have already been in Hogsmead." Professor Sprout commented, almost like she was asking a question.

"And his trunk?" McGonagall asked her colleague.

Professor Sprout just shrugged. "Harry could have brought it with him?" She guessed again. "Or an owls could have carried it in? It's not like we monitor the mail."

"You could be teaching divination with predictions like that," Snape sneered.

"Oh, Stuff it." Sprout huffed. "At least I tried. Do you have any ideas?"

Professor Snape just glared and crossed his arms.

The headmaster sighed and slumped back into his seat. "There are many ways young Mister Potter could have entered the castle, though I find myself dwelling more on where he has been for the past ten years, and who he is. I think that has far more bearing on our future.

Was there anything else that needed to be discussed tonight... no. I wish you all a good night then, and the best of luck with the coming classes."

The party stood to leave when the fireplace roared to life with a flash of green flame. In it was the face of an old haggard man with a scraggly gray beard and wide gray eyes. "Ah, Albus, there you are. I've been trying to reach you for the past three hours, but I suppose you've been at the feast." He rolled on without waiting for any of the pleasantries. "I thought you would like to know that Harry Potter was in my shop earlier, and was selected by the brother wand." The old man spoke these words slowly, precisely, and specifically to Dumbledore before returning to his rushed conversation. "He was accompanied by what looked like a young man, mid thirties maybe, but his eyes were old Albus, impossibly old. Older than mine, or yours on your worst of days. He was British, but I've never seen him before, and I remember every person I have ever sold a wand to. He was jovial enough, and was asking many questions about everything, so I would assume he's a muggle of some sort."

Everyone had frozen in their tracks to watch Mr. Ollivander rant.

"How long ago was this?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"He left about three hours ago. Was he at the sorting?" Ollivander asked quite seriously.

Dumbledore only nodded back in his thought. "Is their anything else you could tell us, anything at all."

Mr. Ollivander ponded the question for a moment before answering. "They didn't appear to be in any sort of hurry, and they had no other supplies on them. They didn't really converse about their personal lives while in my store, it was all business. Though Potter called the other man, 'Dad'. Is this of any help?"

"Probably." Dumbledore leaned back in his chair looking thoughtful. "I thank you for the information. If there is anything I can ever do for you feel free to call any time."

Mr. Ollivander's face disappeared and the flames died back down to a soft glow.

"The feast started three hours ago." Professor Flitwick commented.

"Thank you all. Sleep well tonight." Dumbledore looked deep into the flames. "You'll need a good nights rest for the first day."

All the professors left at the obvious dismissal. Professor Dumbledore went to stand by his large window that overlooked the grounds of Hogwarts and sighed. '_At least he's back_.' And fell back into contemplation about what all the small clues he had gathered meant.

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left Gryffindor tower the next day. People were filling the corridors outside his classrooms to get a look at their legendary savior and wherever he went people would stare. He found it difficult to ignore all the conversations surrounding him wherever he went, but he refused to let his annoyance show. _'Give it a week.' _Harry kept telling himself. _'They'll get use to me and I'll be just another face in the crowd, just give it time.' _This mantra was the only thing keeping him from flipping out and telling the lot of them to piss off.

Classes themselves were going well enough. Herbology required him to learn about plants, something that had rarely, if ever, been touched on with his studies with the Doctor. History of Magic was easily the most dull subject. It wasn't the subject matter that was the problem, Harry could easily absorb the texts, but the way the history was presented by the ghost of Professor Binns with his monotonous voice droning on and on able to make the most fascinating stories sound like the autobiography of an accountant. Astronomy was also incredibly dull but for a completely different reason. He was trying to figure out the best way to approach Professor Sinestra about testing out of the class – there was no point wasting his time in a class he could teach better than the teacher.

The two actual wand waving magic classes, charms and transfiguration, were very similar in the fact that they didn't seem to be doing any actual magic. The first few classes were entirely lecture based with the class taking notes and learning the theory about how to hold a wand, how to focus, and the importance of proper enunciation. Harry complained and commiserated with the rest of his classmates and looked fondly towards the day when then will have learned enough theory to start changing desks into pigs.

Harry didn't quite know what to make of the class he was most looking forward to, Defense Against the Dark Arts. On one hand the classroom was filled with odd nicknack's and smells, most of them with the most ridiculous explanations, like warding off vampires and zombies and every time some one asked for the history of said artifacts, Professor Quirrell would blush and start discussing the weather. On the other hand Quirrell did cover the basics, like the _lumos_ spell (you never know what terrors might be hiding in the dark) and more interestingly, why the dark arts should be feared and avoided.

Not that Harry was expecting to learn anything incredible his first week of his first year, but making light shine from the tip of his wand was something Harry had figured out how to do from books before school even started.

Then there was the subject of Potions. Going into it Harry thought it would be interesting enough, a bit like chemistry adding a bit of science to an otherwise magic heavy curriculum, but the Professor made Harry enjoying it a chore and a half. The lessons took place in the dark dank dungeons, both colder and creepier than the rest of the castle. Professor Snape started the class with roll and Harry new there was going to be a problem as soon as his name was called.

"Ah, yes, Harry Potter. Our new – celebrity."

Laughter flitted through the classroom and Snape finished the calling the last few names on the list.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses … I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Harry could only stare at Snape with barely concealed shock. To rant so lovingly about a pile of chemicals, and then for a teacher to call all his students idiots, that was just a bit much in Harry's book.

"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"Ah," It took Harry a moment to get his bearings at Snape barking a question at him out of the blue. Hermione's hand was in the air in a snap but just as Snape opened his mouth Harry blurted out, "A sleeping potion."

Snape's lips curled into sneer. "A sleeping potion? Is that it? Pitiful. Let's try again, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Hermione's hand was stretched as high as she could get it, waving furiously trying to get the get the Professors attention while the rest of the class watched on, avoiding looking at Snape in fear he would call on one of them next.

"Ah... a goat."

"A goat, is that your answer, a goat. Clearly fame isn't everything Let's try this again. What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfs-bane?"

Harry was getting fed up with the interrogation and spat back, "I don't know."

"The correct response would be I don't know, sir. And for your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Drought of the Living Death, not as you would have us believe, your run of the mill insomnia relief. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant which also goes by the name aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?

And three points will be taken from Gryffindor house for you inadequate answers, Potter."

It took quite a bit of restraint for Harry not to start slamming his head repeatedly off his counter in response to the harassment he received throughout the period. Snape would stare over his shoulder and make snide comments about his poor nettle weighing abilities. And when Neville somehow managed to melt his cauldron, all Snape did was yell about how much of an idiot he was, then blamed Harry for not warning Neville.

Luckily for him Harry had been told by Professor McGonagall that he was to meet the Headmaster Friday afternoon at three, right after his spectacular Potions class. He met the transfiguration teacher at her classroom to be lead to the illustrious office.

Professor McGonagall sighed at the sight of him marching down the hallway. "What has happened now, Mr. Potter?"

"Snape." Harry snarled as he marched passed the Professor so quickly she had to jog slightly to catch up to him. "There's something seriously wrong with him and if I don't get transferred out of his class ASAP, you should fear for his safety."

"Mr. Potter. You may not like Professor Snape but he is still a professor and you will be respectful as such. What has he done now?" Professor McGonagall sounded exasperated, like she knew there was going to be a problem between the two.

"Visit Neville in the Hospital Wing. He melted his cauldron and Snape just yelled at him for being incompetent. What Nev did I have no idea, and I wish he would tell us so I can make sure to avoid making the same mistake." Harry ranted. "Then there's the fact he kept quizzing me and taking points for not answering fully enough, I mean really? Its the first week of school. Oh and just giving us a potion to make without first reviewing safety measures. Yeah I'd like to start doing some actual magic but at the cost of Neville loosing his nose – I don't think so."

"Mr. Potter, I will visit Mr. Longbottom as soon as I leave you, but I would thank you if you would hold off on whatever it is your planning for a few days and let me discuss this with Professor Snape, I am your Head of House after all and this is my responsibility."

Harry paused in his rant for a moment. "Fine. Sure. Whatever. I won't hurt him. But I will ask that something be done about this situation. He is an inadequate teacher and I don't want to be wasting my time here."

"Please Mr. Potter, its the fourth day of school. I know it must be strange for you, with you fame, and everyone wanting to know where you've been. Especially with all the speculation of you being raised by dark wizards,"

"Dark Wizards!" Harry squeaked. "You think I'm a, I'm a Dark Wizard?" He started laughing as Professor McGonagall started shaking her head vigorously in denial.

"No, no. I'm just saying that here has been, in the past, some speculation as to whether the reason you have been missing was because your kidnapping was a form of revenge by dark wizards, and having been raised by them, you'd have a taste for the darker side of magic."

"Ah, no." Harry managed to get in after his laughter. "I was raised by a man with no affiliation to the magical world, if that reassures you at all."

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and straightened he robe. "Here we are, Cauldron Cakes. I will see you later, Mr. Potter." She turned and headed down the hallway the way she came.

Against the wall in front of Harry was a large stone gargoyle that leapt aside as she spoke the password revealing a staircase slowly spiraling upwards like an escalator. The boy stepped tentatively through the doorway and road the stairs up to where they stopped at a small landing in front of a large wooden door, ornate with an emblem of the Hogwarts coat of arms. Harry held up his fist to knock when he heard an old voice call out ,"Enter."

The office was huge, its rounded walls covered with portraits of who Harry assumed were the previous headmasters. The small bit of wall space behind the large desk not covered with paintings was filled with small trinkets and doodads that Harry couldn't imagine the purpose of.

"Ah. Mr. Potter, thank you for coming. I am sure you know what this meeting is about?" Professor Dumbledore gestured to a seat in front of his desk. "This is Madam Bones, from the Ministry of Magic's department of Law Enforcement."

"Its a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter. We have been looking for you for a long time now." The petite woman stood to shake his hand. "If you don't mind me getting this meeting started I'd like to ask you a few questions." She took a piece of parchment and a quill from her handbag and set both down on a desk beside her chair. "Today is Friday September the Fifth 1991, Amelia Bones and Albus Dumbledore interviewing Harry Potter." The quill stood to attention and started noting every word that was said.

"May I call you Harry?" She inquired. Harry just nodded in response. "Harry, could you tell us where you have been living for the past ten years?"

"I live with my dad, John Smith. He's a scientific advisor with the government, the muggle government I mean. He works for UNIT." Harry felt an slight itch behind his eyes as he finished speaking so he brought to the front of his mind images of the UNIT headquarters waiting room.

Professor Dumbledore's eyebrows arched slightly at the news. "I have heard of UNIT. Do you know what he does with them?"

Harry nodded. "I know a little, but its classified. I could get into a lot of trouble if I told you - and please don't even try cause there's no way I'll tell you." He replied with certainty.

"If you insist. We'll come back to it later. Is it just you and Mr. Smith, or is there someone else involved in your upbringing?" Madam Bones asked.

Harry shook his head, keeping his eyes locked on his twiddling thumbs, occasionally glancing at either the Headmaster or Madame Bones. "Its just the two of us."

"Do you know how you came to be in his care?" She continued.

Harry again shrugged. "Before I lived with him apparently I lived with a woman named Jackie in London, but he doesn't know much about her. She was killed in an accident when I was three and he was there, so he took me in. Guess I grew on him cause he adopted me not long after." Again Harry felt the intrusion in his mind again and tried to push forward an image of a woman with indistinguishable features. One thing he was most trying to avoid was giving his interrogators people who really existed in 1991, especially if they hadn't met him yet.

There were a few moments pause from both his interviewers as he finished.

"And he knew this Jackie was not your real mother? Can you tell us anything else about her?" Dumbledore queried.

"I don't know what he knew at first, but someone at UNIT eventually noticed I was Harry Potter and informed him. They keep tabs on you lot you know."

Professor Dumbledore and Madame Bones exchanges glances.

Madam Bones cleared her throat, "So you didn't go by the name Harry Potter than?"

"Back home I usually go by Harry Smith. I know none of you would accept that, so I didn't bother trying. "

"And why didn't your father inform us when he realized who you were?"

Harry could practically hear the quotation marks around the word 'father'. "By the time he figured out the circumstances I was already his son, and he feared you would take me away."

"And by home you mean?" Dumbledore asked.

"Where ever my dad happens to be stationed at the time."

"Do you move around a lot?" He added.

Harry nodded. "Some might consider it a lot, yes."

"Are you sure thats a healthy environment for you to be growing up in? That a more stable home might not be more suitable?"

Harry laughed slightly. "Naw. How many people do you know that can say they have been to every continent, or speak as many languages, or understand as many cultures as I do. I think the benefits far out way any of the potential drawbacks."

"Is there anyway we could speak with Mr. Smith?" Madame Bones asked.

"No, sorry." Harry tried to sound sympathetic here- kind of. "Secret mission. I won't talk to him till school ends in June."

"Really?" Madame Bones eyebrow was raised in disbelief.

"Yup." Harry nodded in a slightly cheerful manner. "You can send all the owls you want but I assure you not a one will find him."

"If he's a muggle how can he stop owl post?" She asked.

"He's a scientist, what kind of stuff do you think scientists do?"

When they continued to look at Harry in mild disbelief he continued, "Did any of your owls find me?"

Professor Dumbledore smiled politely and stated, "I have never had the pleasure of meeting a muggle scientist before. Can you tell me what kind of science he studies, or perhaps the places you have lived?"

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

After the hour and a half long meeting Harry hurried back to his room and upon entering rushed to his open trunk and slammed the lid shut.

"Harry?" Ron sat up from where he was sprawled out on his bed just to the right of Harry's. "How did the meeting go? What are you doing?"

Harry was fishing around his pocket and mumbled back, "It went fine thanks." He pulled out a key and stuck it into the keyhole of his trunk and threw the trunks lid open again revealing not the usual contents of his trunk, but a ladder leading downward. Harry removed the key and returned it to his pocket.

"Wow." Ron's mouth was open slightly as he leaned off his bed to try and get a look down into the chasm of Harry's trunk. "What do you need a compartmentalized trunk for?"

Harry just shrugged back and started climbing down the ladder, reaching for the lid to close it after him. "I'll tell you later. There's something I have to do first. Kick the trunk a few timed if someone comes looking for me will you, thanks." And Harry disappeared into his trunk.

Ron approached the trunk and opened the lid to yell down to Harry that he was a nutter, but when he opened he found just a normal trunk, filled with clothes and books. Ron frowned and returned to his bed picking up the Quidditch magazine he had been reading. He tried to return to his task but wound up spending most of his time watching the trunk waiting for Harry's return than reading.

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O

At the bottom of the ladder was lit a large circular room with no doors and if the walls were painted you couldn't tell through the miles and miles of cables that wove in and out of each other and lights blinking on and off creating a wallpaper of their own, all except for one small portion that displayed a large computer screen that was devoid of life.

The floor was covered with metal grates, circuit boards and tools except for one portion of the room sat a small bed next to a large pile of books and a refrigerator showing the only evidence that this room was anything other than a large computer.

Harry kicked a few bits of scraps around till he found what he was looking for. He let out a happy, "AHA." as he pulled a keyboard out from under some scrap and plopped onto the bed with it. A few keystrokes later he was rewarded with a voice booming throughout the room, "Hello?"

"Ah...Oww. Hold on." Harry quickly turned the volume down. "Sorry. Hi Dad." Harry called out. "Where are you now?"

"You know, in the vortex, making repairs, overhauls, now that I've got a few moments peace." The Doctor's voice flowed at a more nature pitch. "How's everything on your end?"

"Fine, fine. I got sorted into Gryffindor." Harry relaxed back onto his bed. "Met the teachers, had a meeting with the headmaster. The usual."

"And how did the meeting go?" They had spent a lot of time planning an adequate back story for Harry and the Doctor was curious as to whether he pulled it off. "Did they hear about our trip to Diagon Alley?"

"No. Not really. How can I be in Diagon Alley at one moment and the Gates of Hogwarts the next? Magic. On the whole it went as expected. Lots of 'Where were you?' 'Who raised you?' 'How were you raised?' 'Are you a maniacal Dark Lord in training?' The usual. Let's just hope your friends at UNIT will be prepared for a few confrontations.""

"Nah. They'll love it. The 90's were a bit slow. It'll give them something to do." The Doctor sighed. "Those people are probably running around mad trying to figure you out, their poor savior, and they haven't a clue who you are."

"Don't Dad, I don't need to hear it." The conversation turned serious. "I'm here, like you said, like I need to be."

"And you know you need to be too. Anyways it good for you to learn better control over your abilities, and to make friends your own age."

"I've made friends my own age. It's not my fault if we ride off into the sunset and never see them again."

"Exactly. This way you can make some long lasting friendships with kids your own age, have a bit of a real childhood with the added bonus of saving the world. What else could you ask for?"

"A bit of sanity would be nice. These people put me on a pedestal, most of them walk on eggshells around me like they think I'll disappear again if anything interesting happens. All except for the slimy slug Snape who thinks I and am using my fame to trick the rest of the school to follow my every whim. This jerk punished me for getting the answers right."

"That's school for you, kiddo. You'll get used to it. And what about the homework I've assigned you, have you been working on it?"

"Yeah, I'm doing it." Harry got up and flipped a few switches on the wall next to the video screen. The monitor came to life showing the whirling Gallifreyan octagonal symbols spinning rapidly around the screen. After a few more taps of his keyboard the Doctors voice flittered through the room again.

"You got the Tempokinetic Quantum Accelerator working!?" The Doctor's voice was filled with awe. "How did you do that? Last week you got fed up and tore the stupid thing apart."

"I got bored." Harry said direly. "There's only so much homework, exploring, and hanging out someone can do before they start banging their head off the wall." He moved to sit back down. "That and for some crazy reason everyone insists on wasting their lives sleeping. Who needs to spend eight hours a night sleeping - One third of their day? If I want to wake up with the rest of my room at seven, I need to go to bed at three, meaning I have to find something to do by my self for a few hours every night. That and I really want to get this hunk of junk working properly."

"Right." The Doctor slowly drawled. "Good luck with that. Tell me more about school. Have you made any friends?"

"I think so. There's this one boy, Ron, who just kind of follows me around."

"That sounds more like a minion than a friend you know."

"No, he's a friend. And I get along with the other guys in my dorm just fine. Also, its only the first week of school, how many people do you think I've met yet?"

"You need to get out more."

"Look who's talking?" Harry laughed. "You've got all eternity at your fingertips and your in the vortex doing 'repairs'. No I think you've hit fast forward, answering any calls you get from me and plan to be in June within twelve hours."

"What?!" The Doctor sputtered. "I'm doing repairs! I don't know what your talking about?"

"Nothing says you can't do both at once."

A loud knocking could be heard from coming from the ceiling.

"Thats Ron. I should go. It's probably time for dinner. I'll talk to you later?"

"Yep. Call me if anything happens. Have fun."

"You too. Bye."

Harry ran up the ladder and pushed the small section that was the roof of the trunk open to see Ron watching from just above.

"Yes Ron?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Erm, dinner. I thought, if you were hungry we'd go down?"

"I'm famished." Harry hopped the rest of the way out and closed the trunk before Ron could get a proper look in.

"What's in there?" Ron asked as they headed out of their room.

"Just a project my dad insists I work on while I'm here. He doesn't want me to fall behind on topics not taught here."

"But why the trunk?"

"Its a big project of almost entirely muggle technology. I have to keep it in the trunk to keep it all working."

"Why would you want to use muggle stuff when you have magic?"

"Because Ron," said Harry exasperatedly, "Sometimes magic isn't the best solution. What was Flitwick telling us the other day about the wizard who tried to make a toiletpaper spell and wound up..."

"Don't finish that sentence." Ron shuttered. "I don't need to hear that again. But what are you doing?"

Harry sighed. "My past is a big secret Ron. Everyone wants to know where I've been and I can't let anybody find out. There could be major consequences if they do. I'm sorry, I can't tell you more.

"Okay." Ron dragged out. "Enough of that. I'm hungry. Race you to the hall! Last one their has to eat one of the twins sweets." and sped up jugging down the stairs.

Harry laughed and took off after him. "Oh no you don't!"

O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O


End file.
